Top legislator tried over graft charges
Top legislator tried over graft charges
The Jakarta Post, Bandung/Padang/Samarinda
After a year of delays, a former West Java councillor went on
trial in Bandung on Thursday for corruption.
If convicted, Kurdi Mukri, former deputy speaker of the West
Java provincial council and currently a legislator at the House
of Representatives, could face a maximum sentence of life in
prison.
Prosecutor Happy Hadiastuti told the court on Thursday the
high-profile corruption case began when Kurdi, a member of the
United Development Party (PPP), and several other West Java
council leaders proposed to the local administration that the 100
West Java councillors for the 1999-2004 term be given money to
buy parcels of land.
The proposal asked for Rp 250 million for each councillor. The
proposal called the money a "token of gratitude" after the
councillors successfully monitored the disbursement of the West
Java provincial budget between 2001 and 2002, saving the province
Rp 200 billion.
After the provincial government approved the money, the
council leaders disbursed the funds in three stages between 2001
and 2002. The total amount disbursed was Rp 33.4 billion,
including taxes and interest.
Before being disbursed, the money was kept in a bank account
belonging to Kurdi and another account belonging to Eka Santosa,
the former speaker of the West Java provincial council.
Following a public outcry, Kurdi returned Rp 7.5 billion to
the state in 2003. Prosecutors who opened an investigation into
the case following the public outcry found irregularities in the
approval and disbursement of the money.
Prosecutors said Kurdi accumulated Rp 171 million in interest
by keeping the money in his bank account. They also said the
disbursement of the funds violated procedures because the money
was not allocated in the budget for the welfare of the
councillors.
Prosecutors accused Kurdin of enriching himself and causing
losses to the state, which is a violation of the corruption law.
The law carries a minimum sentence of one year in jail and a
maximum sentence of life.
Kurdi was quick to criticize the indictment, which he said was
not fair. He said other councillors who received the money should
also be tried.
Kurdi is one of three former councillors who have been charged
in the case, which surfaced in 2003. Two other former councillors
-- Suyaman and Suparno, who are also former deputy speakers of
the council -- are currently being questioned as suspects by the
West Java Prosecutor's Office.
Separately in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra, former
Padang mayor Zuiyen Rais went on trial on Thursday for allegedly
embezzling Rp 8.4 billion from Padang's 2001 and 2002 budgets.
In Samarinda, the capital of East Kalimantan, the provincial
prosecutor's office questioned on Thursday former East Kalimantan
provincial council speaker Soekardi Jarwo Putro over a Rp 85
billion graft case.