Banyuwangi officials arrested over airport graft

Luthfiana Mahmudah ,  THE JAKARTA POST ,  BANYUWANGI   |  Fri, 05/08/2009 1:21 PM  |  East Java

The Banyuwangi Prosecutor's Office has arrested two Banyuwangi regency administration officials allegedly involved in a land purchase graft case to build an airport in Blimbingsari village, Rogojampi district.

The arrested officials were Budianto, an expert reporting to the Banyuwangi regent and an auditor at the Banyuwangi Supervision Agency, Bambang Wahyudi.

Head of the prosecutor's office's special crimes unit, I Ketut Suadiartha, said Thursday the two were arrested Wednesday evening after being questioned for four hours.

"We have enough evidence and testimonies from expert witnesses," he said.

"The prosecutor's office is now working hard to further investigate and prepare the dossiers to be submitted to the court."

Suadiartha promised the two suspects would be tried before their 20-day detention period and the 40-day extension period expire.

Previously, seven other officials were also arrested including former Banyuwangi Regent Samsul Hadi, assistant to regency secretary for administrative affairs Sudjiharto, former Blimbingsari village chief Effendi, Gambiran district head Soegeng Siswanto, head of general affairs and bureau Sugiharto, acting head of Banyuwangi's National Land Agency (BPN) office Suharno and former head of the Banyuwangi BPN Nawolo Prasetyo.

"We have arrested nine out of 10 suspects in the case," said Suadiartha.

"We are still waiting for a presidential permit to arrest the tenth suspect, Banyuwangi Regent Ratna Ani Lestari."

The construction of the Blimbingsari Airport started in 2004 using funds from the state budget. The opening of the airport scheduled for August 2007 was delayed due to the alleged graft when buying the land for the airport.

The 14 hectares of land in Blimbingsari village cost some Rp 56.46 billion (US$ 5.41 million).

The case surfaced in 2005 after the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) reported a potential loss of Rp 41 billion in state funds from the suspected embezzlement of the land procurement fund.

Some Rp 21.23 billion were swindled when Samsul headed the land procurement team while another Rp 19.76 billion were embezzled under Ratna's tenure.

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