Police to grill Banyumas councillors over bribery

Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post, Purwokerto, Central Java

The police in Banyumas, Central Java, said it would set up an investigative team to question 18 legislators of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), who allegedly took bribes during the recent regental election.

Banyumas Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Winarno pledged to investigate the case thoroughly, since it had tarnished not only the regental legislative council's image, but also the entire regency.

"We are scheduled to summon PDI Perjuangan's 18 legislators next week while collecting evidence," he said after receiving an official report on the case from Herman, chairman of the party's local chapter on Saturday.

He added that the police has collected the necessary information from both the media and local party figures regency.

The party's local chapter decided to file a report on the bribery after hearing the confessions of three party legislators that they had taken bribes to ensure the win of the Golkar Party's candidate in the regental election.

However, the three -- Supadi, Suwarto and Achmad Sudirto -- retracted their confessions, saying that they were under pressure during their interrogation by the party's local executives.

The party investigated the case after candidate Bambang Priyono, who was jointly nominated by PDI Perjuangan and the National Awakening Party (PKB), was defeated in the election.

Both PDI Perjuangan and PKB have 25 seats in the legislative body, but during the election, Bambang gained only 17 votes while Golkar candidate Aris Setiono gained 28 votes.

The legislative council decided in its March 26 plenary session to delay installing the regent-elect, because several legislators were allegedly involved in money politics with Aris.

Aris has so far declined to comment on the alleged bribery.

The 1999 regional autonomy law gives the public three days to raise objections against the result of a regental election before it is made official. The regency legislative council must hold another election should the winning candidate be proven guilty of buying votes to win the election.

Herman said that the party's central board supported his move to bring the case to court and that it would mete out harsh punishment on legislators who were proved guilty in the case.

"We trust the police will handle the case fairly," he added.