Police question ex-councillor over graft

Jon Afrizal, The Jakarta Post, Jambi

The Jambi Police has grilled Machluddin Ahmad over his alleged involvement in the misuse of Rp 8 billion (US$860,000) from the West Tanjungjabung legislative council budget.

Machluddin was council speaker for the 1999-2004 term.

A spokesman for the police said it was highly likely that Machluddin would be arrested as a result of the questioning.

"Although he has not been detained yet ... Machluddin will soon be declared a suspect," police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Djoko Turochman told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

In a separate development, Machluddin's counterpart at the East Tanjungjabung legislative council, Ibnu Hajar, has been detained for graft.

Djoko said the Jambi Police had so far questioned nine former members of the local council and five local officials. He added that there was a possibility that all 30 former councillors of West Tanjungjabung were implicated in the graft case.

Jambi Governor Zulkifli Nurdin had previously given license to the police to question several members of the 1999-2004 council who had been reelected for another five-year term.

Irregularities in the local budget was first revealed three months ago in an audit conducted by the Supreme Audit Agency.

At the same time, the Jambi Prosecutor's Office is handling a Rp 5.3 billion graft case allegedly involving East Tanjungjabung councillors of the 1999-2004 term.

Jambi Prosecutor's Office head Farchan Sunyoto said two other former council members under investigation were deputy speakers Rustam Effendi and Syaifuddin Anang.

In addition, former council members Sabaruddin and Rajo Muhammad would soon be declared suspects. The two were budget committee chairmen in 2002 and 2003, respectively.