Padang mayor to be fired

PADANG, West Sumatra: Mayor Zuiyen Rais, who has been sentenced to 10 months in jail for fraud, will soon be dismissed from his post, speaker of the Padang legislative council Maigus Nasir said here on Friday.

According to Maigus, the decision to fire the mayor had been agreed upon by all the factions on the council, and the Minister of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy Surjadi Soedirdja had been consulted.

"The council is just setting the date for the plenary session to dismiss the mayor," Maigus said.

Zuiyen was found guilty of illegally misusing a total of Rp 1.2 billion from the mayoralty budget during the 1992 and 1997 mayoralty elections. Zuiyen was victorious both times.

He told the court that the money had been used to finance the mobilization of his supporters during the election campaigns.

He was sentenced to 10 months in jail and fined Rp 10 million for the offense. The Supreme Court upheld the trial court's ruling.

Maigus said that the council would summon Zuiyen and question him about his stance concerning the Supreme Court ruling prior to the holding of the plenary session.

Zuiyen is currently awaiting a decision from the President after lodging an appeal for clemency. Therefore, according to his lawyers, the final decision on their client should be taken after the President had given his response to the appeal. (28/sur)