Police to act on Semarang Corruption Watch's report

Haryoso, The Jakarta Post, Semarang

Central Java Police have vowed to investigate a report of an alleged fraud involving Rp 67 billion from the province's Villagers Cooperative Unit (Puskud) as revealed by the Semarang Corruption Watch (SCW).

Adj. Sr. Comr. Ramly EA, spokesman for the Central Jakarta Police, said in Semarang on Wednesday that the director of the cooperative, Achmad Wahyudi, had yet to respond to the police summons for questioning.

Ramly did not reveal if Wahyudi would be questioned as a witness or a suspect. He said, however, that the police would probably arrest the suspects without issuing a second summons if the police had sufficient evidence.

Coordinator of the Semarang Corruption Watch Subyakto said Rp 49 billion was believed to have been swindled from clove farmers' fees collected between 1992 and 1998.

"We don't care if the SCW reports are true or not. But the police are now compiling evidence from reliable sources," said Ramly.

Meanwhile, Subyakto said that the alleged swindle had been reported to the Central Java Prosecutor's Office, the Attorney General's Office in Jakarta and other concerned institutions, including the police and governor.

"We urge the Attorney General's Office to instruct the Central Java Prosecutor's Office to investigate the alleged swindle soon. We also want the police to be more proactive."

Subyakto said the officials of the cooperative had deposited the money into their bank accounts to gain interest before transferring the funds to the cooperative.

The money belongs to the farmers of all cooperatives at the village level in the province.

Subyakto also said that the officials of the cooperative had once distributed bad checks to many cooperatives in villages.