At least 18 were killed and 39 others injured when the the Mahakam II Bridge in East Kalimantan collapsed. (Agency Photo) |
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"Bambang
also said the police were also looking into the possibility of corruption being
a factor in the shoddy construction of the bridges." Corruption in
Indonesia? Surely that is not possible
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The police
have named three suspects in the case of the collapse of a 10-year-old
suspension bridge in East Kalimantan in November, an officer said on Sunday.
Comr. Gen.
Sutarman, the National Police chief of detectives, said the three suspects had
yet to be detained.
“Based on
the results of the investigation and the evidence gathered, three people have
been named as suspects by the East Kalimantan Police,” Sutarman said.
He
identified them as Y.S., an official of the Kutai Kartanegara district public
work office; S.T., a technical executor of the project; and MSF from Bukaka
Tehnik Utama, the company in charge of the bridge’s maintenance and repairs.
He said the
three suspects would be summoned for questioning at East Kalimantan police
headquarters on suspicion of having violated two articles of the Penal Code
pertaining to negligence leading to the loss of life.
At least 24
people died when the Rp 104 billion ($11.4 million) Mahakam II bridge,
inaugurated in 2001, collapsed on Nov. 26. A dozen other people are still
missing and feared dead.
Meanwhile,
East Kalimantan Police chief Insp. Gen. Bambang Widaryatmo said that the
suspects may be arrested after their questioning.
“We will
summon them immediately and detain them,” Bambang said.
He added
that the three suspects were named after the questioning of 57 witnesses,
including five expert witnesses from five universities.
He said the
investigation had been slow because some of the maintenance workers were among
the victims and their equipment had sunk to the bottom of the Mahakam River
when the bridge collapsed.
“We are
also constrained because the experts who have been asked to provide
explanations in relation to the collapse of the bridge are still awaiting the
results of the analysis of several teams deployed from the concerned ministries
to study the incident,” he said.
Bambang
also said the police were also looking into the possibility of corruption being
a factor in the shoddy construction of the bridges by studying all available
documents, including the contract for the construction, signed in 1995.
“We are
currently investigating suspicions of corruption in the bridge’s construction.
For example, cables that should have been 100 centimeters long, were only 10
centimeters long,” Bambang said.
Meanwhile,
Sri Wahyuningsih, a spokeswoman for the Kutai Kartanegara district, said that
district authorities were continuing efforts to evacuate the victims and
vehicles still believed to be at the bottom of the Mahakam River. The
authorities will also lift the structure, a task expected to be complete by
Feb. 17.
“There were
three companies making offers and presentations [for the clearance contract],
but we have yet to choose a winner,” she said.
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