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Detained, former regent suddenly sick
Suddenly sick: Officers rush former Karanganyar regent Rina Iriani Sri Ratnaningsih out of the Semarang Corruption Court on Tuesday
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span class="inline inline-center">Suddenly sick: Officers rush former Karanganyar regent Rina Iriani Sri Ratnaningsih out of the Semarang Corruption Court on Tuesday. Rina, who suddenly fell ill after the court announced its decision to detain her, was on trial for alleged corruption. Antara/R. Rekotomo
The former regent of Karanganyar in Central Java, Rina Iriani Sri Ratnaningsih, has been admitted to hospital following an abrupt decline in health after the Semarang Corruption Court ruled to detain her.
Rina, who was accused in August of being implicated in a corruption and money-laundering case involving Rp 21.9 billion (US$1.7 million), was taken to Bhayangkara Hospital, Semarang, on Tuesday evening.
The panel of judges presided over by Dwiarso Budi Santiarto ruled to detain Rini at the Bulu women's penitentiary for 30 days from Nov. 11 to Dec. 10.
'We have decided to detain her to prevent her from influencing witnesses,' Dwiarso said at the hearing.
He said that as of Tuesday, the court had questioned all the witnesses proposed by prosecutors. Witnesses proposed by the defendant's lawyers will be questioned at subsequent sessions.
Upon hearing the court's ruling, Rina's face turned pale. She weakened visibly and her eyes swelled. Her head dropped onto the shoulder of her lawyer from the OC Kaligis law firm. She was seen to rub her brow, complaining of pain. Her lawyers repeatedly helped her to rest her head on her chair.
Half an hour later, a doctor from the court's polyclinic examined Rina, before recommending that she be admitted to hospital.
Head of the Karanganyar Prosecutors' Office's special crime section Gunawan Wisnu explained that the defendant's condition made it impossible for her to be taken to the Bulu penitentiary. 'She had to be hospitalized,' he said.
Rina, who completed her term as regent on Dec. 15 last year, was accused of misappropriating a Rp 35.7 billion Public Housing Ministry subsidy fund granted in 2007 and 2008 for the development of the Griya Lawu Asri (GLA) housing complex in Karanganyar.
The money was reportedly channeled to a cooperative; Rina's ex-husband, Tony Iwan Haryono, was at that time chairman of the cooperative audit council. Rina's niece, Fransisca Riana Sari, and Tony were found guilty of embezzlement of the funds in 2011 and sentenced to two years and five years' and 10 months' imprisonment, respectively
According to the prosecutors' charge, the fund was allocated for the development of 1,003 units of houses and the reconstruction of 2,048 others. Only 111, however, were developed, and 114 reconstructed.
The Central Java Prosecutor's Office has seized a number of assets belonging to Rina.
Among the seized assets are two private residences, two cars (a Toyota Camry and a Honda CRV), Rp 100 million in cash, two jewelry boxes containing diamonds, eight certificates of ownership and a number of passbooks.
Slamet Yuwono of Rina's defense team said that the court's ruling was unexpected. He said that his team had proposed a detention suspension orally, but that no response had been given until the end of the hearing on Tuesday.
'We also guaranteed that the defendant would not abscond,' Slamet said, adding that Rina's lawyers would file another proposal for the suspension of Rina's detention.
