KPU member could face life sentence for graft

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The corruption trial of former General Elections Commission (KPU) member Rusadi Kantaprawira began on Wednesday, with the court hearing that the defendant used his position in charge of procuring ink for last year's elections to enrich himself.

Rusadi, 63, who headed the committee that procured the indelible ink used to mark voters' fingers, was charged under Article 2 of Anticorruption Law No. 20/2001 for enriching himself, others or companies. The crime, prosecutors said, resulted in Rp 4.6 billion (about US$460,000) in state losses.

The article carries a jail sentence of between four years and life, and a fine of between Rp 200 million and Rp 1 billion.

"The defendant directly appointed seven companies to supply the ink, violating a presidential decree that states direct appointments are allowed only in a state of emergency," prosecutor Sarjono Turin told the Anticorruption Court in Central Jakarta.

Prosecutors from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) also charge that Rusadi, a professor of constitutional law at Padjadjaran University, violated Presidential Decree No. 80/2003 on the provision of goods and services for state institutions.

The decree requires transparent tenders in which as many companies as possible are given the fair opportunity to participate.

"The defendant also set the price (of the ink) based on the average price quotations offered by the companies. This also contradicts the presidential decree, which requires a procurement committee to set an estimated price," Sarjono said.

Of the seven companies appointed by Rusadi and his committee to supply the ink for the elections, four of the companies imported the ink from India, while three other companies supplied a locally made product.

Prosecutors also charged that the four companies that imported the ink funded a trip by Rusadi to India to visit ink factories in Mumbai and Goa.

"The defendant, along with two other KPU members, had already received Rp 81.3 million from the KPU for the trip," Sarjono said.

Another prosecutor, Suwarji, said the defendant received Rp 70 million in kickbacks from one of the seven companies that won the tender.

"The money was handed over shortly after the KPU completed the procurement payment," Suwarji said.

Defense lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea asked the panel of judges to release his client from detention.

"My client was arrested for no reason. The KPK came up with the evidence only after he was in jail. I demand the court release him from detention," said the prominent lawyer, who says he is representing Rusadi free of charge.

Rusadi has been detained since July 18, shortly after KPK investigators arrested him and four other KPU officials in connection with corruption at the poll body.

KPU member Mulyana W. Kusumah was convicted of bribing a state auditor and sentenced to 31 months in prison in September, while acting KPU secretary-general received a 30-month jail sentence in the same case.

Commission chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin and treasurer Hamdani Amin are standing trial separately for receiving kickbacks from companies that won KPU tenders to supply election materials.

Despite Hamdani's testimony that all nine election commission members received kickbacks, the KPK has not launched investigations into other current and former KPU members, including Hamid Awaluddin and Anas Urbaningrum. Hamid is now the minister of justice and human rights, while Anas has quit the KPU to join President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party.