T

he Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO) grilled South Tangerang Mayor Airin Rachmi Diany on Friday in connection with a graft case involving the construction of health facilities worth Rp 7.8 billion (US$607,000) carried out by her administration in 2011.

AGO spokesman Tony Spontana said Airin had been questioned as a witness given her position as South Tangerang mayor.

'€œOf course, things relate to her capacity as the regional head there because health facilities are her responsibility,'€ Tony said.

Prosecutors also found that the health facilities were constructed using the South Tangerang regional budget, raising questions about Airin'€™s possible involvement in the case.

Prior to Friday'€™s questioning, the AGO had summons Airin on numerous occasions, but she failed show up.

The AGO has named seven suspects in the case, including Airin'€™s husband, Banten businessman Tubagus Chaeri '€œWawan'€ Wardana, who is also the younger brother of disgraced former Banten governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah.

Wawan and another suspect, Mamak Jamaksari, are currently in the custody of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Wawan was sentenced to four years in a bribery case. He is also awaiting the completion of his dossiers on two separate graft cases on medical equipment procurement in the South Tangerang and Banten administrations along with money-laundering cases handled by the KPK.

If found guilty, Wawan could be sentenced to another 20 years behind bars for the case being handled by the AGO.

The AGO has charged Wawan under Article 2 of the 1999 Corruption Law, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Airin has also been questioned by the KPK as a witness in her husband'€™s cases handled by the KPK.

The KPK is currently compiling the dossier on Wawan involving a Rp 23 billion medical equipment procurement project in South Tangerang, which was subject to massive irregularities, such as direct appointment, mark ups and bribery.

The South Tangerang case is only one among many massive corruption cases involving members of Banten'€™s political dynasty, which has been in power for decades since Atut, convicted in a separate graft case handled by the KPK, became the deputy governor of Banten in 2006.

Atut took office as acting governor in the same year after former Banten governor Djoko Munandar was dismissed from his post after standing trial in a graft case.

Atut, who was arrested for allegedly collaborating with Wawan in bribing former Constitutional Court chief justice Akil Mochtar, managed to stay in power, literally controlling her administration from the detention center with her status as a suspended governor, during her four-month-long trial in 2014.

She was eventually dismissed from her post after the Jakarta Corruption Court found her guilty along with Wawan in the bribery case.

Her post was taken over by her deputy governor, actor-turned-politician, Rano Karno.