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ll four speakers of the West Sulawesi Legislative Council have been named suspects of corruption for their alleged roles in the embezzlement of funds from the province’s 2016 budget, causing estimated state loses of Rp 360 billion (US$28 million).

They are speaker Andi Mappangara from the Democratic Party as well as deputy speakers Munandar Wijaya of the Gerindra Party, Hamzah Hapati Hasan of the Golkar Party and Harun of the National Mandate Party (PAN).

Investigators from the South and West Sulawesi Prosecutors’ Office, however, did not immediately detain the suspects.

The head of the prosecutors’ office, Jan Samuel Maringka, said the suspects had allegedly charged illicit fees amounting to between 5 percent and 10 percent of every project funded by the province’s regional budget.

Jan said the fees were bribes given to the councillors by contractors in order to have the proposed projects approved.

He said other councillors were also suspected to have accepted bribes for the same purpose.

“The suspects, as the council’s speakers, have approved the proposed 2016 regional budget and decided to allocate Rp 360 billion out of it to be distributed [as illicit fees] to the council’s speakers and members,” Jan said during a press conference in Makassar on Wednesday.

Rp 80 billion of the total was reportedly disbursed last year in relation to projects overseen by the West Sulawesi Culture and Education Agency, the West Sulawesi Public Works and Public Housing Agency and the council’s secretariat.

He said that investigators had conducted a six-week preliminary investigation to find strong evidence. They have also found that many of the companies that have apparently won the tenders for the projects were fictitious.

“The taxpayers’ money was used only for the suspects’ personal interests,” Jan said.

Investigators also questioned 30 of the 45 councillors as well as 16 agency heads in the province as witnesses.

“The suspects have allegedly intentionally approved the 2016 budget without procedures set out in the 2016 Home Ministry regulation on regional budgets,” he said.

The suspects have been charged under the 2001 Corruption Law and face a minimum of four years in prison if found guilty.

When contacted by The Jakarta Post, Mappangara said he had not received formal notification from the prosecutors’ office.

“Whatever the decision of [the prosecutors’ office], I will respect it,” he said over the phone.

Mappangara was last questioned by investigators as a witness two weeks ago.

“I believe the entire budgeting process in 2016 was procedural. I don’t know the reason for them naming me a suspect,” he added.
There have been numerous corruption cases implicating dozens of regional legislative councillors in the past.

In 2015, 14 former members of the Semarang Legislative Council in Central Java were sentenced to between two and four years in prison for corruption.

A year earlier, the Jayapura Corruption Court in Papua declared 44 members of the West Papua Legislative Council guilty in a Rp 22 billion corruption case.

In 2013, the Yogyakarta Corruption Court sent 32 former members of the Gunungkidul Legislative Council in the Yogyakarta regency to jail for between one and 1.5 years.

In another case at the regency level, 23 members of the Indragiri Hulu Legislative Council were named corruption suspects in 2011.