The police have asked the Depok immigration office in West Java to ban former Depok mayor Nur Mahmudi Ismail and city secretary Harry Prihanto from travelling abroad so as to assist their ongoing investigation into a graft case.

“Today, we sent a request letter for cooperation with the Depok Immigration office for the sake of the investigation,” Depok Police chief Sr. Comr. Didik Sugiarto said on Monday.

Nur Mahmudi and Harry have been named suspect in a Rp 10 billion (US$ 672,675) graft case related to a road-widening project on Jl. Nangka, a popular alternative route for motorists going from Jl. Raya Bogor to the Jagorawi toll road.

The 2015 plan was to widen the entire road by 6 meters on each side, which meant removing several roadside homes.

Didik said Nur Mahmudi had requested that contractors to use their own funds rather than from the Depok regional budget for the project. However, it was later found that the project was still allocated in the 2015 regional budget despite it supposedly being covered by the contractors.

The police also sent summons letters to Nur Mahmudi and Harry. “[We are] scheduled to question them on Wednesday and Thursday” Didik said as quoted by kompas.com. 

Nur Mahmudi was the former chairman of the Islamic-based Justice Party, which then became the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). He served as agriculture and plantation minister under former president Abdurrahman Wahid from 1999 to 2000 before serving as Depok mayor between 2006 and 2016. (ami)