Tangerang mayor again fails to testify

TANGERANG: Tangerang Mayor M. Thamrin failed on Tuesday to answer a court summons to testify in the corruption trial of a former high-ranking official, the fifth time he failed to turn up in court.

Prosecutor Puji Rahardjo told the Tangerang District Court that the mayor said he had to go out of town, the same excuse he gave the four previous times for not testifying. This time he said he had to go to Bandung for a business trip.

Rather than ordering the prosecutor to use every means necessary to bring get the mayor into the courtroom, presiding judge Suprapto agreed to hear the mayor's written statements made during police questioning.

The court is hearing the case of Agus Burhanuddin, the former chief of the municipal finance and prosperity body and a former municipal administration assistant. He is being tried for corruption involving a total of Rp 5.8 billion.

If found guilty, Agus could be sentenced to 20 years in jail. --JP