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Former Semarang regent arrested for graft
Former Semarang regent Bambang Guritno, a graft case fugitive since 2011, was arrested by a team of prosecutors on Friday night and taken to Ambarawa Prison, Central Java
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ormer Semarang regent BambangGuritno, a graft case fugitive since 2011, was arrested by a team ofprosecutors on Friday night and taken to Ambarawa Prison, Central Java.
Bambang was arrested while giving a Quran recitation course at a mosque near his rented accommodation in Babarsari, Yogyakarta. However, Bambang, who used the name Muhammad Umar Siddiq while at large, insisted that he hadn't tried to escape the law.
'I am here to teach a Quran recitation course. I am not running away from anything. Everyone knows that,' he said.
Head of the Ambarawa Prosecutors' office, Sila Pulungan, said his team had been monitoring Bambang's movements for a week before deciding to arrest him.
'Now we have handed him in to prison services to serve his sentence,' Sila said.
Bambang was declared guilty by the Semarang Regency District Court over graft allegations relating to a Rp 5.8 billion student textbook procurement scandal in 2004. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and ordered to pay Rp 100 million in fines or serve three additional months in prison. He was also ordered to repay Rp 321 million to the state.
Bambang then filed an appeal and was granted a sentence reduction. His two-year sentence was reduced to a year and the fine was reduced to Rp 50 million. The Supreme Court subsequently ruled in favor of the High Court's decision of a year in prison and a fine of Rp 50 million, as well as an additional month in prison if he failed to pay the fine.
Aside from Bambang, two other officials, namely former Education Agency head Sri Kuwanto and local legislator Lubby Widarbo, were sentenced in relation to the same case. (dic)
