Regent candidates probed for fraud

Antara News Agency, Blitar, East Java

An election commission here is investigating alleged campaign fraud involving several candidate pairs running for the posts of Blitar regent and deputy.

Blitar Election Commission spokesman Miftahul Huda said on Monday regent and deputy regent candidates Soebianto and Suhardi of the Golkar Party, whose personal wealth was Rp 916.9 million and Rp 655 million respectively, had only declared campaign funds amounting to Rp 9 million.

Incumbents Herry Nugroho and Arief Fuadi of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, meanwhile, had declared their personal wealth at Rp 5.8 billion and Rp 582 million respectively but had only Rp 5 million in their campaign account.

Both pairs were under investigation because the amount of money found in their campaign account did not match personal wealth and likely campaign spending, Miftahul said.

"The amount of campaign money (in their accounts) is unrealistic," he said.

Improper declarations of campaign funds are illegal under the law.

Democratic Party pair Harnen Sulistio and Moh. Khoiruddin of have declared campaign funds of Rp 110 million and are not under investigation.

The commission became suspicious after it discovered the amount of money in the candidates' bank accounts had not increased since Sept. 5.

The Blitar regional election will be held on Nov. 27 and the three pairs of candidates are currently campaigning, with electioneering ending on Nov. 24.