Seven Depok councillors detained
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta Police detained seven former Depok councillors on Monday afternoon on graft charges.
City police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono confirmed that the the councillors had been taken into custody at 8:45 p.m. following their questioning earlier.
Earlier in the afternoon, city police anticorruption chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Anton Wahono said that the police had "had strong evidence of their involvement in graft."
Six of the suspects -- former Depok Council chairman Sutadi, former deputy chairman Naming D. Bothin, former deputy chairman Hasbullah R., former budget committee head Bambang Sutopo, former budget committee secretary Bambang Prihanto, and former council secretary Endang Rukana -- arrived at city police headquarters at 10 a.m. and underwent several hours of questioning by investigators.
Another suspect, former council deputy chairman Lt. Col. (ret) Moch. Amin, arrived at 4 p.m.
The seven are suspected of masterminding collective graft in 2002 by all 45 members of the Depok Council, who served from 1999 to 2004. Their term ended on Sept. 3 and they were named suspects on Aug. 31.
Anton said the police had strong evidence that all 45 of the former councillors misused the budget for their private interests, adding that police were preparing to name of the former councillors as suspects.
"We don't have to question all 45 of the former councillors because it will take all of our time," he said.
Police received graft reports from several sources in early August. The sources said each of the councillors allegedly misappropriated at least Rp 83 million (about US$8,950) to pay personal bills, including telephone bills, electricity bills, car repair bills and life insurance premiums.
The suspects will be charged under Article 2 of Law No. 31/1999 on anticorruption. The offense carries a minimum of four years in jail and a maximum of life imprisonment.
The graft allegation against the Depok councillors has added to a growing number of collective graft cases involving city councillors. Similar graft cases have been reported against councils in Padang, West Sumatra and West Nusa Tenggara.