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