Court remains tough on graft

DENPASAR: The Bali Corruption Court continued its tough stance Wednesday by ordering the detention of another defendant in a corruption case involving a businesswoman and officials from the provincial transportation agency.

The case revolves around a Rp 2.14 billion project to install road signs along 80 kilometers of road in Denpasar, Singaraja and Amlapura.

The defendant was identified as I Gede Putu Sunarta, the official in charge of the project. It is the first case the court has handled.

“I hereby order the prosecutor to place the defendant in custody for 30 days,” presiding judge Nur Syam said, adding that placing the defendant behind bars would facilitate proceedings at the court.

Previously, the court ordered that the main defendant in the case be taken into custody.

The main defendant is Endah Suparsetyaningsih, 47, the director of Pradana Tehnik, the company that won the bid for project. Seven other individuals have been indicted in the case.

Regional corruption courts were established in provinces across Indonesia following a Constitutional Court ruling in 2006 stating that the corruption court in Jakarta lacked both the legal foundation and jurisdiction to process corruption cases from regions outside Jakarta.