Police accuse Rachman of embezzling charity funds
Police accuse Rachman of embezzling charity funds
Ali Kotarumalos, Associated Press, Jakarta
Already under investigation for corruption, Indonesia's attorney general was accused by police Friday of embezzling thousands of dollars from a charity set up to help refugees.
Police say they found evidence that Attorney General Muhammad Abdul Rachman siphoned Rp 150 million (US$16,600) from a fund that provided assistance to refugees forced from their homes by ethnic fighting in Kalimantan.
The latest allegation comes as Rachman is fighting accusations that he misled state investigators by providing them with false data.
He was accused of failing to include a villa in a posh Jakarta neighborhood and a number of bank accounts in his compulsory report to the Commission of Investigation of the Wealth of State Officials.
Rachman, who has long been a target of anti-graft activists for his lavish lifestyle, has so far resisted calls from members of Parliament to resign.
A former prosecutor who first revealed Rachman's alleged financial wrongdoing has been jailed and charged with swindle and embezzlement.
After receiving a complaint from the investigating commission, police began examining about Rp 800 million in Rachman's bank account. They allege that some of the money earmarked for refugees was used to buy a car for the attorney general.
"Investigators suspect that Rp 150 million of a fund for Madurese refugees was embezzled by Attorney General Abdul Rachman," said chief investigator Col. Marsudi Hanafi. "Rachman gave the money to a lawyer who then gave it to one of his colleagues to buy a car."
A spokesman for the Attorney General's office, Antazari Azhar, said he couldn't comment until the police investigation is completed.
Indonesia has been dogged for decades by corruption, but President Megawati Soekarnoputri has vowed to clean up the government.
Since taking office last year, parliamentary speaker Akbar Tandjung has been found guilty of misusing government funds and sentenced to three years in prison.
Last month, a former Indonesian Cabinet minister Rahardi Ramelan was sentenced to two years in prison over the same scandal. He was found guilty of illegally authorizing the withdrawal of the funds.