Former Tegal police chief detained over corruption

The Central Java Prosecutors' Office detained former Tegal police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Agustin Hardiyanto on Tuesday for alleged corruption centering on his office's operational funds, adding to the number of police personnel caught this year.

Agustin is suspected to have embezzled the regional budget to secure the 2009 Central Java gubernatorial and Tegal regional elections. He was not able to provide a clear report of what he had spent during his tenure.

His lawyer, however, claimed that his client was not guilty of corruption.

“We will prove that this is not a corruption case, because this is caused by the system. There's a higher officer who doesn't like my client,” Agustin's lawyer, Novel Al Bakri, said in Semarang on Tuesday.

Prosecutors caught a whiff of Agustin's alleged corruption in 2009. The investigation at that time resulted in strong evidence that Agustin had embezzled Rp 6.6 billion (US$692,340) of state funds.

The case, which has been investigated for the last three years, had been difficult to prove, with the two police chiefs appointed after Agustin unable to solve the case.

Agustin now remains at the Kedungpane Penitentiary in Semarang as a detainee for the Central Java Prosecutors' Office.(fzm/swd)