Police arrest Padang deputy mayor

Police arrest Padang deputy mayor

PADANG, West Sumatra: The police in Padang, West Sumatra, arrested Chairul Indra, who was recently elected Padang deputy mayor, for using a fake school certificate in contending the election.

Chairul's lawyer, Yadi Utokai, conceded that his client had been in detention for several days, and that he had asked police to release Chairul because of the absence of strong proof that his client had used a falsified senior high school certificate.

Chairul, who ran together with mayoral candidate Djasrial, won the election for mayor and deputy mayor on March 18, but the Padang municipal legislature had decided to postpone recognizing the pair's victory because of the fake certificate issue.

It was known prior to the election that Chairul had used a forgery of a required certificate in order to contend the election, after the police had investigated the case.

Several groups of students had protested the election since Chairul was still allowed to run for deputy mayor. -- JP