Deputy mayor arrested for graft

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 09/04/2008 10:16 AM | City

In an alleged case of graft, South Jakarta Deputy Mayor Budiman Simarmata was arrested Wednesday by a team of prosecutors from the special crimes division of the Attorney General's Office (AGO).

Budiman, a former South Jakarta municipality secretary, and Ishak Firdaus, the former subdistrict head of North Kebayoran Lama, were brought to the Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta at around 4 p.m., as reported by kompas.com.

Marwan Effendy, a prosecutor, told reporters Budiman was questioned for nine hours, during which prosecutors received information he signed documents approving the disbursement of funds for procuring the land.

The prosecutorial team was headed by Nurrohmat.

Both Budiman and Ishak allegedly cost the state around Rp 4 billion (US$439,560) in losses due to their 2006 involvement in a forgery involving a plot of land to be used as a Buddhist grave in the Tanah Kusir public cemetery in South Jakarta. The land belonged to Nahali bin Djibin.

Two weeks ago, the AGO's special crimes division announced the initials of five suspects in the case, including Budiman and Ishak. The other three were also South Jakarta officials: the head of the regional administration division, PYT or Paryanto, and a staff member, MS, along with the head of the Kebayoran Lama district, MT, or M. Tahrir.

The latter two were arrested last week.

Paryanto and Tahrir are accused of forging a land title for a fictitious plot, based on authentic documentation for an actual property.

The two then allegedly fabricated an address, exaggerating the plot's size from 235 to 4,830 square meters, only to sell all "4,830 square meters" to the city administration, which intended to use the land as a cemetery.

The plot was procured by the city back in 1976, with the suspects' forgery convincing the administration to purchase it a second time in 2006.

Several municipal officials were reportedly surprised upon hearing their leader was arrested.

"It's the first in history that a number of top officials at the municipality level in Jakarta were arrested for graft," Komar, a municipal official said, as quoted by beritajakarta.com.

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