Regent candidates probed for fraud

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.