Probe into JEC bribery stalls
Probe into JEC bribery stalls
Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
Progress in the much-demanded investigation into a bribery
scandal over the Jogja Expo Center (JEC) project remains
uncertain despite prosecutors obtaining the approval of the home
minister to summon a local senior legislator as a suspect.
The Yogyakarta prosecutor's office had named in February
Herman Abdurrahman, chairman of the United Development Party
(PPP) faction in the provincial legislative council, as one of
two suspects in the Rp 150 million scandal.
Last month, Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno approved the
plan to question Herman, a move required by law to question local
legislators implicated in crimes.
However, prosecutors were apparently reluctant to summon
Herman as they had not set a date for his questioning.
Anti-corruption activists lashed out at the prosecutor's
office for being too sluggish in the investigation.
"It's been two-and-a-half months since prosecutors began their
investigation into the JEC case, but they haven't even questioned
the suspect yet," said Teguh Purnomo, coordinator of a joint
independent team investigating the scandal.
The team comprises lawyers from many legal aid organizations
including a group from Gadjah Mada University.
It also is looking into a separate bribery scandal involving
Rp 1 billion in last year's vice gubernatorial election in which
the sultan of Paku Alaman Palace, Paku Alam IX, and his step
brother Prince Anglingkusumo were the only candidates.
Local legislators have been accused of taking bribes from both
Anglingkusumo and Paku Alam IX in the race, in which Paku Alam
came up as the winner.
Teguh said there was no reason for prosecutors to delay the
investigation into the two scandals as legal evidence has been
"more than sufficient".
Spokesman for the Yogyakarta prosecutor's office Ranu Miharja
vowed to summon Herman and another suspect Duljiman, director of
Yogyakarta's state-run construction firm PT Adhi Karya, for
questioning next week.
"We have succeeded in passing all the procedures to question
Pak Herman now and we'll question him in the next few days after
our team prepares all the technical matters," told The Jakarta
Post on Wednesday.
He said his office had just received technical assistance from
the Attorney General's Office to be able to grill the suspects.
Duljiman is charged with giving Herman a Rp 150 million bribe
to ensure the council's political support for the last
disbursement of Rp 9 billion in state funds for the JEC project.
The Rp 42.5 billion-project was financed by the Yogyakarta
provincial administration and the central government.
Bowing to public pressure, Herman admitted in late February
that he had received Rp 150 million from an unknown sender in his
Bank Bali account on Jan. 4 and Jan. 9. He claimed to have sent
the money back to the sender's account in Bank Mandiri on Jan.
15.
The finding by a PPP investigation team, however, showed that
Herman had only returned the money on Feb. 15.
Acting head of the Yogyakarta prosecutor's office Edward
Pasaribu told the Post on Monday that whether or not other
legislators would be declared suspects would depend on the
results of Herman's questioning.
"We will find out if Pak Herman distributed the money to his
fellow legislators or not," he said.
Two legislators of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI Perjuangan) and Golkar Party have revealed that a fellow
legislator had given them envelopes in January containing Rp 5
million and Rp 10 million respectively.