Police to grill Banyumas councillors over bribery

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.