Manado mayor faces 20 years jail for alleged graft

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 04/06/2009 10:20 PM  |  National

Jimmy Rimba Rogi, the mayor of Manado, North Sulawesi, has been charged with embezzling nearly Rp 70 billion from his administration’s budget in 2006 and could face a maximum penalty of 20 years’ prison.

“The defendant has profited either himself, others or a corporation through the illegal use of Manado’s regional budget,” prosecutor Suwarji told the Corruption Court on Monday.

Jimmy was charged with violating Article 2 (1) on profiting from a crime and Article 3 on violating one’s position of authority.

Suwarji said around the time Jimmy was installed as mayor of Manado in August 2005, he ordered the head of the financial division, Wenny Rolos, to prepare cash from the mayoralty budget for his own personal interests.

“Wenny followed up on the order by opening a new account at the South Sulawesi branch of PT Bank Pembangunan Daerah on behalf of the Manado administration,” said Suwarji.

The defendant asked Wenny to deposit money from the administration budget to his new account several times.

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