Yogyakarta councillors turn suspects in graft case

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Prosecutors in Yogyakarta named on Friday six provincial councillors as suspects in a graft case, only days after suspicion over a misuse of funds prompted the Yogyakarta governor to cut 55 councillor's salaries by about two-thirds.

"We're waiting for permission from the Minister of Home Affairs to investigate the six councillors, and to question others in the provincial legislature," said Yogyakarta Prosecutor's Office spokesman Ranu Mihardja. He declined to identify the suspects.

He said a report by the Yogyakarta Corruption Watch (YCW), which was received in September last year, prompted the investigation.

The YCW, he said, alleged that the suspects misused about Rp 120 million in state funds earmarked for paying their health insurance.

Each of the six councillors was to pay Rp 20 million a year for the insurance, but it turned out that they paid only Rp 3 million and kept the rest for themselves, Ranu said.

YCW also questioned the legitimacy of the health insurance, saying that councillors were entitled to receive only allowances.

Investigators also discovered that the insurance money had come from the budget of the provincial administration when it should have been paid by the provincial legislature's own budget.

"We found out that the insurance fund was not the only irregularity," Ranu added.

He said that a total of Rp 1 billion in state funds had been abused by the councillors. Ranu did not say whether prosecutors only suspected the six councillors in the case.

The announcement of the suspects came just days after Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X decided to stop paying councillors any allowances starting this month.

This has reduced the councillors' total monthly salary of Rp 6.2 million by almost two-thirds.

The decision came following questions raised by the inspector general's office at the Ministry of Home Affairs on the use of state funds by the Yogyakarta Council.

A meeting to address this problem is slated for next week between the provincial administration, the council's budget committee and officials from the inspector general's office.

The prosecutor's announcement of the six suspects was criticized by several councillors.

"It amazes me. Why should there be only six suspects?" said the council's deputy chairman, Nur Achmad Affandi.

He said that if the abuses had occurred because the entire council had made a mistake than this should be the responsibility of the council leaders.

"If it's considered a mistake of each councillor then all 55 councillors should be named suspects without any exception," he said.