Regent meets Rp 175m bail, goes back to work

Regent meets Rp 175m bail, goes back to work

Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru, Riau

Only a day after controversial Riau Island regent Huzrin Hood was
flown to Tanjung Pinang to face trial, he was granted bail by the
head of the Tanjung Pinang Prosecutor's Office, Andi Puli Sultan.

He was released on Thursday at 1 p.m. after his family posted
bail of Rp 175 million (US$21,342). This was much less than the
Rp 4.3 billion that he is alleged to have embezzled from the
province's 2001 budget.

Besides posting bail with the Tanjung Pinang District Court
clerk, Huzrin's lawyer Hendie Devitra also put forward Huzrin's
brother Hardi Selamet Hood as a personal guarantor.

Posting bail with the district court clerk is an unusual
practice in Indonesia, as suspects usually post bail with the
prosecutors or investigators.

On Wednesday, the Pekanbaru Prosecutor's Office flew Huzrin to
Tanjung Pinang in a chartered aircraft, and handed over the
suspect, the case files and all the evidence to the Tanjungpinang
Prosecutor's Office. He is expected to stand trial immediately.

Hendie said his client had fulfilled all the requirements as
stated in the Criminal Law Procedure Codes, namely the posting of
bail and putting forward a member of his family as personal
guarantor.

After being released from detention in the prosecutor's
office, Huzrin directly went to his home.

"Upon his arrival at his home, he quickly changed into his
uniform. He will be ready to take up his duties as regent again
tomorrow," Hendie said.

Hendie said that he was ready to defend his client in the
trial and would prove that the charges were unsubstantiated.

Huzrin was arrested in an apartment in Cikini, Central
Jakarta, on May 30 and later transferred to Pekanbaru for
intensive interrogation by the local prosecutor's office there.

He allegedly embezzled the money to buy political support for
the establishment of a Riau Islands province.

A team from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) found
irregularities in its audit of the Riau Islands regency
administration in 2001, with some Rp 87.2 billion in losses to
the state being identified.

But Pekanbaru Prosecutor's Office head Muhammad Hussaini
rejected the report saying that his office had only found
possible embezzlement of Rp 4.3 billion, which had been paid over
to a number of fictitious NGOs.

The Riau Islands Province Establishment Committee had earlier
requested Riau Governor Saleh Djasit to also investigate
corruption allegations against other regents in the province.

"We hope the governor will investigate other regents and
officials suspected of even greater corruption than Huzrin. We
see injustice in this case," said committee secretary Nur
Syafriadi on Wednesday as quoted by Antara.

The case became public after the House of Representatives
endorsed the law on the formation of Riau Islands province last
year.

However, the endorsement was strongly opposed by the mother
province of Riau and the resource-rich Natuna Islands. Responding
to the opposition, President Megawati Soekarnoputri issued a
decree earlier this year to delay the establishment of the new
province.

Many believe that the funds that were allegedly embezzled were
used to finance trips by hundreds of local people to Jakarta to
voice their support for the new province at the House when
legislators were deliberating the bill.