Tangerang deputy regent set to testify over alleged land misuse

Tangerang Deputy Regent Rano Karno said he wanted to testify against the allegation of land misuse within the Vila Melati Mas housing complex in Serpong, South Tangerang.

Rano said the land had actually been earmarked for a house of worship, but then a hotel was erected at the same location.

“I will tell the prosecutors everything they need to know about the land because I used to be the chairman of the regency’s Land Procurement Committee,” he said on Friday. However, Rano, who is participating in the Banten gubernatorial election on the same ticket as incumbent governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah, acknowledged that to date he had yet received a summons from prosecutors regarding the case.

“If I’d known earlier that they intended to build something other than a house of worship at the location, then I would have done something to prevent it. I was totally in the dark about this change,” he said.

Tangerang Regent Ismet Iskandar had approved the Siripada Temple’s construction on the 3,257 square meters of land located within a housing complex.

To date, the Tangerang prosecutors have summoned a number of Tangerang regency administration officials allegedly implicated in the case.