ICW demands House fire corrupt legislator

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) urged the House of Representatives Wednesday to fire As’ad Syam, a legislator from the Democratic Party, on the basis of corruption committed by him during his tenure as regent in Muarojambi, Jambi, in 2004.

“We demand the House’s Ethics Council immediately process his dismissal as a member and that his party strip him of his membership in the party,” the political corruption division coordinator for ICW Ibrahim Fahmi Badoh said.

“This case can become a bad precedent for the House. Negligence on behalf of the House has been embarrassing,” he said.

On April 3, 2008, the Sengeti District Court in Jambi had declared As’ad, the regent of Muarojambi between 1999 and 2004, free of all indictments.

However, on April 13, 2008, the prosecutors appeal to the Supreme Court, which later sentenced As’ad to four year’s imprisonment on Dec. 10, 2008, for his involvement in corruption relating to the Sungai Bahar diesel power plant project in Muarojambi in 2004 that caused state losses of Rp 4.5 billion (US$500,000).

In addition, he was required to pay Rp 200 million in fines or serve an extra six months in prison.

The Sengeti district court did not receive the verdict from the Supreme Court until Nov. 16, 2009.

“It took a very long time for the letter to arrive at the court and, consequently, it delayed execution of the verdict by the Attorney General’s Office,” said Fahmi.

He added that it was possible the delay was to facilitate the recruitment of As’ad as legislative candidate for the 2009 general election.

“I don’t know where the problem lay, either with the General Election Commission, which conducted
the administrative verification, or with the party, which did not thoroughly investigate his track record,” said Fahmi.

A member of the Democratic Party patron’s board, Haryono Isman, said his party was waiting for the Supreme Court to finish reviewing its verdict.

“If he’s proven guilty, we will fire him as required by party mechanisms,” he told The Jakarta Post over the phone. (lnd)