Police interview Bawaslu chief over election document forgery

Police interviewed Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) chief Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo on Tuesday over an allegedly forged Constitutional Court document concerning a 2009 dispute of a seat at the House of Representatives representing South Sulawesi I electoral district.

Bambang said police investigators asked him about information in relation to the alleged forgery because he was present at a plenum of the General Elections Commission (KPU).

"They asked me details like who was present at the plenum, who used the document and the substance of the document," Bambang said at police headquarters.

KPU held the plenum on Aug. 21, 2009, to announce the ruling of the Constitutional Court concerning a dispute between Dewi Yasin Limpo of the People Conscience Party (Hanura) and Mestariyani Habie of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) for a House seat.

Bambang said that all only one KPU commissioner was absent due to illness.

He also said that during the plenum he made an objection because he found a substantial difference between the ruling letter and the explanation letter, both of which supposedly came from the Constitutional Court.

"We asked for a review to determine which of the letters had legal power. However, the plenum decided to use the explanation letter to grant the seat representing South Sulawesi I electoral district to Hanura," Bambang said.

Bambang said that at the time no one knew that the explanation letter was forged.

"We learned that it was forged after (Constitutional Court chief) Mahfud MD received a complaint from Gerindra one or two weeks after the plenary. After Mahfud said the letter was forged, we (Bawaslu) cross-checked with the KPU because we were suspicious that there was more than one forged letter," Bambang said. (rcf)