Two held for alleged graft, murder in Poso

Two held for alleged graft, murder in Poso

Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Palu

The Central Sulawesi police chief of detectives disclosed that
investigators had detained two people from Poso regency believed
to have stolen refugee aid money and murdered a village chief who
refused to go along with their scheme.

"Ahmad Laparigi is now being held at the Palu penitentiary,
while Andi Makkasau is in custody at the Central Sulawesi police
headquarters," Sr. Comr. Arif Rachim told reporters at the police
station.

He said that the two men were accused of embezzling hundreds
of millions of rupiah from the Poso refugee funds allocated by
the central government this year. According to Arif, besides
fabricating the list of refugees, they had also stolen some of
the money that was supposed to be distributed to the village
chiefs. The village chiefs were entrusted to hand over aid to the
refugees.

After a preliminary police investigation, there were strong
indications that they had not given the right amount of funds to
the villages, in accordance with the number of refugee families.

Thousands of Poso residents have taken refuge throughout
Central Sulawesi province after sectarian clashes over the last
four years have killed some 2,000 Muslims and Christians in the
regency. Some residents returned to their homes after the
security situation improved somewhat in 2002, but others have
remained in refugee camps or at relatives' homes as they fear
more bloodshed in the religiously divided province.

Meanwhile, Arif said that the two men were also suspects in
the beheading of Pinedapa village chief, Carminalis Ndele,
believed to have occurred on Nov. 4.

The police reached that conclusion because they believed the
motive for Carminalis' murder was closely related to the
distribution of the refugee funds, said Arif. Based on
testimonies from a number of witnesses, Carminalis was murdered
because he had refused to accept the funds from the suspects
after he realized that the amount was not correct. Each refugee
family should have received Rp 2.5 million.

Worried that Carminalis would later report the matter to the
authorities, the two allegedly hired assassins, who murdered
Carminalis by decapitating him.

Police are still investigating the case by questioning several
witnesses who might know of solid links between the refugee fund
scam and the murder of the village chief.

The police will also question a number of officials at the
Poso Social Welfare Office, who may have been involved in refugee
aid scam worth over Rp 1 billion (US$111,111) in 2004 alone.

"We initially found that the funds had amounted to Rp 1
billion, but only Rp 650 million of that amount was disbursed to
the refugees," he said.

Separately, in the case of the bomb that was set off on a full
public minivan on Nov. 13, which killed six people at a local
market, Arif explained that the police were still questioning
witnesses. The driver of the minivan, Dekianus, told police that
he was shopping for groceries inside the market when it exploded.
He was shocked when he learned that it was his minivan. The
explosion took place in front of a market in Poso and injured
several others in addition to the six fatalities.

Dekianus was released after the questioning, said Arif, a
former Central Sulawesi legislator.