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fter eight hours of questioning, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Friday detained Semarang Mayor Soemarmo Hadi Saputro for his alleged involvement in a bribery scandal.

A week ago, the KPK named Soemarmo a suspect for allegedly bribing local councillors in order to pass the 2012 Semarang city budget  proposal.

“As a law abiding citizen, I will yield and follow this [legal] process,” Soemarmo told reporters on Friday.

“I ask citizens of Semarang, especially those who have voted for me, not to overreact regarding this current development. I hope the situation [in Semarang] remains conducive amid the government’s plans to raise the fuel price.”

The mayor has been implicated in the scandal after the KPK caught his subordinate city secretary Akhmat Zaenuri red handed with two local councillors, Agung Purno Sarjono of the National Mandate Party (PAN) and Sumartono of the Democratic Party.

The three of them were arrested with 21 envelopes containing Rp 40 million (US$4,360) in November last year. An investigation commenced by the antigraft commission found Rp 500 million in the city secretary’s office.

The mayor acknowledged that the money might have been intended to bribe local legislators despite his denial of involvement in the graft.

The report says that the bribe was intended for the new Semarang city budget proposal, which increased the amount of money allocated for employees’ wages.

“I am sorry if I have disappointed my voters. I did this not in my interest but in the people’s,”
Soemarmo said.

Soemarmo skipped the KPK’s questioning on Tuesday because he was hospitalized for three days. His lawyer said the mayor had a fever.

KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said that the suspect would be detained for the next 20 days at Cipinang detention center, in East Jakarta.

He said that the antigraft commission would use the Articles 5 and 13 of the 2001 Corruption Law to investigate the case.

Soemarmo’s lawyer Sjafrie Noer said that his client was in the early stages of KPK questioning and that the facts describing his involvement had not yet unfolded.

“The KPK should develop further investigations into this matter and look at whether other local legislators also received such bribes,” he added.

Separately in Semarang, Central Java, city secretary Akhmat Zaenuri underwent trial at the corruption court. Prosecutors demanded two-and-a-half years imprisonment and Rp 100 million in fines for Zaenuri. “We demand the panel of judges to declare the defendant guilty of corruption,” prosecutor Pulung Rinandoro said before the Semarang Corruption Court on Friday.

The trial was adjourned until April 10 to hear the defendant’s expected plea.

Commenting on the rampant graft scandal, KPK deputy chairman Busyro Muqoddas questioned whether Indonesia could improve if the cadres of Indonesian leaders came from corrupt political parties.

“The cadres emerge from political parties that are part of the country’s serious problem,” Busyro told a discussion forum entitled “Rearranging Indonesia” that was held in Yogyakarta, on Thursday, and led by the people empowerment council of the country’s largest modernist Muslim organization, Muhammdiyah.

He added that because of corrupt political parties, ministries led by ministers who were political party cadres usually had more potential to be corrupt.

Bambang Muryanto contributes to this story from Yogyakarta