Police told to probe former Aji chief

Police told to probe former Aji chief

JAKARTA: The Association of People's Lawyers has criticized
the police for their slow investigation into charges of power
abuse against former Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI)
chairman Lukas Luwarso over funds for a district development
program.

"We reported the case to the police on May 3, 2005, but we
never received a report detailing the progress of the
investigation. It seems that the probe is too slow," said
association chief Habiburokhman.

He said Lukas could evade the probe as he had been informed
that the former AJI chairman would go to the United States on
Aug. 5 to take up a one-year education scholarship from the
American Indonesia Exchange Foundation.

When serving as the AJI chairman, Lukas received Rp 3.8
billion (US$387,755) from the World Bank in 1999 to help monitor
a five-year district development program until last year,
involving journalists.

However, Lukas acted on his own, without the involvement of
the alliance, in monitoring the project, AJI activist Edy Haryadi
said.

This, he added, had ruined the AJI's reputation, particularly
after the alliance received complaints about irregularities in
the program's activities. --Antara