Regent installed despite investigation

Regent installed despite investigation

BOGOR: West Java Governor Dany Setiawan finally installed Agus
Utara Effendi as Bogor regent for a second term together with
Albert Pribadi as deputy regent on Monday even though Agus has
been declared a suspect by the West Java Police in a bribery case
involving Rp 1.2 billion (US$141,176.47).

Some political figures, including Roy BB Janis and Noviantika
Nasution from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan), attended the installation ceremony.

Dany told the press after the ceremony that the legal process
involving Agus would still continue notwithstanding his
installation as regent.

He said that he would issue a letter allowing the police to
investigate the regent.

Agus allegedly bribed some Bogor regency councillors to accept
his 2001 accountability report.

The West Java Police's chief of detectives, Adj. Sr. Comr. M.
Nurdin, said that five councillors had admitted receiving between
Rp 10 million and Rp 110 million from the regent. -- JP

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Greater-police-burglary
Police identify new burglary method
JP/8/GREAT1

Police identify new burglary method

JAKARTA: Police said on Monday they had identified a new modus
operandi being employed by gangs of burglars following the arrest
of five suspected housebreakers last week.

"The burglars pretend to be construction workers engaged on a
project close to the vacant shop or house they are targeting,"
said the Jakarta Police's detectives chief, Sr. Comr. Mathius
Salempang.

The burglars, Salempang said, would then break into the vacant
premises after nightfall.

Police arrested four suspected burglars -- Kartimin, 34; Agung
Laksono, 25; Pujianto, 26; and Warsidi, 39 -- last week in Muara
Karang, North Jakarta.

The suspects told police investigators that they had been
burgling premises using this particular modus operandi since
2001. Among their successful operations had been the theft of Rp
30 million (US$3,530) in cash from a money changer in Blok M,
South Jakarta, in 2001, and of two kilograms of gold and Rp 10
million in cash from a vacant shophouse on Jl. Pangeran
Jayakarta, Central Jakarta, in 2002.

Police have identified three gangs of burglars who employ this
method. These are known by police detectives as the Pluit,
Karanganyar and Kranji gangs.

"We are still hunting the gang members," said Salempang. -- JP