Police reopen Pardede's case

Police reopen Pardede's case

MEDAN, North Sumatra: After two years, North Sumatra Police
decided on Friday to reopen an alleged fake diploma case
involving Deputy Governor Rudolf Pardede.

Provincial police chief Insp. Gen. Iwan Pandjiwinata said the
decision was a response to public demands.

"Police are now reinvestigating the case. We expect the public
to wait for our probe with patience and refrain from any moves
that could disturb order," Iwan said.

The police spokesman, Sr. Comr. Bambang Prihady said a team of
four officers had been sent to Sukabumi, West Java to gather
facts from BPK Penabur high school that Pardede claimed had
issued his diploma in early 1960s. The school has denied having
Pardede as a student.

The case resurfaced after a group of councillors rejected any
possible appointment of Pardede as the governor replacing Rizal
Nurdin who died in a plane crash on Sept. 5. The councillors
demanded that the police reopen Pardede's old case.

Pardede headed the province's office of the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle when he ran as Rizal's running mate
in the 2003 election, with approval from then president Megawati
Soekarnoputri, who is the party's national leader. -- JP