Susno in the hot seat after police chiefs testify

Seven former chiefs of West Java police stations testified to being pressured by their former boss to sign documents that falsely stated amounts of funds allocated for protecting the gubernatorial elections in 2008.

The former chiefs of Kuningan, Sukabumi, Banjar, Indramayu, Tasik, Purwakarta and Bogor police stations said they were told by their superior to sign documents on the allocation of funds for respective stations, but received less that what the documents stated.

The chiefs were testifying in the trial of former West Java Police chief Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, currently accused of embezzling money allocated for the elections.

Susno is also known to have blown the whistle on a number graft cases allegedly involving police officers and other members of law enforcement institutions.

The finance head for the West Java Police at the time was Sr. Comr. Abdurrahman Pasha, who has been accused of giving “instructions” related to the discrepancies.

All the witnesses said they received sums of money that differed from those stated in the receipts.

Most of the witnesses testified they expected the rest of the money to follow, but the money never came.

The difference between the sum of money stated in the receipts and the sum actually received ranged from Rp 200 million (US$22,200) to Rp 1 billion.

Susno denied the accusations. “I never ordered [that],” he said.