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.