TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Malang Council meeting half empty after 'graft' purge
Change Size
Many seats at the Malang City Council plenary meeting on Monday were empty after 18 councillors were named as graft suspects by the Corruption Eradication Commission. (JP/Aman Rochman)
T
he plenary meeting of Malang City Council, which coincided with Malang’s 104th anniversary, saw half-empty seats after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named 18 councillors as suspects in a graft case.
Malang has 45 councillors, but many were absent on Monday.
The KPK also named mayoral candidates Moch Anton, the incumbent Malang mayor, and Yaqud Ananda, a politician from Hanura, as suspects.
Their announcement as suspects was a follow-up from earlier arrests.
The KPK arrested Malang Public Works, Housing and Building Supervisory Agency head Jarot Edy Sulistyono for allegedly giving Rp 700 million to Malang Council Speaker Moch. Arief Wicaksono to speed up the revision of Malang’s 2015 city budget. The KPK said Arief allegedly gave Rp 600 million to the mayor, Anton, who later distributed some of the money to the councillors.
Of the 19 suspects, 13 have been detained including Anton and Yaqud.
The acting speaker at the plenary meeting, Abdul Hakim, has also been named suspect. “Through my lawyer, I have requested the KPK to let me go to Malang to preside in the plenary meeting,” he said on Monday. (evi)
