Banyumas official dismissed over bribery allegations

Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post, Banyumas | Archipelago | Tue, October 21 2014, 6:17 PM

The head of Banyumas Public Order Agency, Rusmiyati, has been dismissed from her current position and transferred to a staff job at the Regional Employment Agency (BKD) following allegations that she accepted bribes from the management of the Indomaret convenience store group.

“Rusmiyati has confessed that she received gratuities from Indomaret. We cannot tolerate this,” Banyumas Regent Achmad Husen said on Tuesday.

Achmad said Rusmiyati had impeded the regency’s efforts to discipline Indomaret convenience stores that opened businesses without permits in the region. As many as 19 Indomaret convenience stores have been reprimanded for violating permits.

The local administration has demolished three of the stores while the rest have opted to shut their stores permanently.

Achmad also encouraged the Banyumas Prosecutor’s office to follow up the bribery allegations and promised full cooperation with the prosecutors once the investigation commenced.

Commenting on the case, Indomaret’s lawyer Joko Susanto confirmed that the Indomaret management had wired Rp 100 million (U$ 8,326) to Rusmiyati.

“The money was meant to smooth the procedures for getting the necessary store permits,” he said.

He added that there was a reasonable possibility that Rusmiyati might have received bigger sums apart from the transferred amount.(dic)(+++) See More on   The Jakarta Post  .