There is still 14 days for us to carry out an investigation. We will still examine the witnesses further along with additional evidence,
Pekanbaru (ANTARA) - There was a surge in the demand for cash before voting day of the simultaneous elections in 2019, and the day after in the area, the Riau Province Representative of Bank Indonesia (BI/the central bank) stated.

The increase in a cash outflow of approximately Rp200 billion began on polling day, April 17, and continued the day after, Deputy Chief of Representative of Bank Indonesia in Riau Province, Syahrul Baharisyah, said here Thursday.

"The voting was on Wednesday, so from Monday, Tuesday and thereafter on Thursday, the 'outflow' reached Rp200 billion," he said.

While there was no certainty on whether the request for cash was directly related to the election, the surge in cash outflow was unusual because on normal days it ranged from Rp5 billion to Rp20 billion, Syahrul remarked.

Nearly a week later very little cash had found its way back into the bank, which meant the currency was still circulating in the community, Syahrul revealed.

"That is basically above normal, and it is increasing. Normally it is between Rp5 billion and Rp10 billion, at most Rp20 billion," he said.

The use of large amounts of cash ahead had created quite a stir, after Bawaslu, together with the Team of the Integrated Law Enforcement Center (Gakkumdu) of Pekanbaru City, nabbed a female legislative candidate from the Gerindra Party in Riau Province red-handed, with the initials DAN, and three others, on April 16. After their arrest, nearly Rp506.4 million of the confiscated cash was suspected to be used for political purposes.

The candidate of the Gerindra Party is from the Riau II electoral district. She was arrested along with three other people who had the initials SA, FEI, and FA.

However, Pekanbaru Bawaslu eventually released the Gerindra candidate. "They were released because the Election Supervisory Body does not have the authority to detain anyone, and we have not decided yet," Indra Khalid Nasution explained.

The female candidate with the initials DAN and three others were allowed to go home on Wednesday, April 17, at around 1:45 am. WIB, he said. However, the investigations against the four will continue.

"There are still 14 days left for us to carry out an investigation. We will still examine the witnesses further along with additional evidence," he stated.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chairperson of the Gerindra Party Regional Council (DPD) of Riau Province, Taufik Arrakhman, denied that his party's legislative candidates and cadres who were arrested by the Pekanbaru Sentra Gakkumdu Team were involved in money politics.

The confiscated money was meant as funds for witnesses at the polling station (TPS) who were overseeing the Presidential Election (Pilpres), he stated.

"Based on information obtained by the Gerindra Party DPD, they were cadres tasked with managing witnesses in the presidential election," Taufik noted.

Translator: FB Anggoro, Eliswan Azly
Editor: Bambang Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2019