Lap of luxury: Indonesian jailers busted over fancy cells
Bandung (Indonesia): Inmates at an Indonesian prison paid for luxury cells equipped with air conditioning, flat-screen TVs and private washrooms, anti-graft officials said, in the graft-riddled country’s latest corruption scandal.
Jail staff allegedly took bribes of 200-500 million rupiah (USD 14,000 – USD 35,000) from inmates to renovate cells and supply banned mobile phones or even let them temporarily leave prison, Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said.
Anti-graft agents arrested five people connected to the scandal at Sukamiskin prison, including inmates and the warden who got cash and a pair of vehicles to look the other way, it added. A raid yesterday turned up several cells that featured modern bathrooms with hot showers, full-sized refrigerators, coffee makers, microwave ovens and stereo loudspeakers, the KPK said. “We apologise to the Indonesian people,” Sri Puguh Budi Utami, the director general of Indonesia’s prisons, told reporters late on Sunday. “We’re very sorry that we still have not been able to maximise our monitoring systems.”
A former tax official now serving time at Sukamiskin was once photographed watching a tennis tournament in Bali and had even travelled overseas on a fake passport when he was supposed to be in another jail. The prison’s other inmates include a former chief justice and ex-house speaker Setya Novanto, who was convicted in April of taking millions of dollars in kickbacks and bribes linked to the national roll-out of government ID cards. They were not among the inmates or prison staff arrested on Sunday day.
Indonesian prisons are more commonly known for their poor conditions and outbreaks of violence. But it is an open secret that the rich and powerful can buy luxury on the inside, prompting the government to warn last year that it would jail guards or other staff caught taking bribes from inmates in exchange for special treatment. In one of the highest-profile cases, a businesswoman imprisoned for bribery had a cell with a spring mattress, couch, refrigerator, television and air conditioning — and adjoining karaoke room. (AFP)
Polish daredevil skies down K2 mountain
Islamabad: Daredevil Andrzej Bargiel has become the first person to ski down the world’s second-highest mountain, the Polish national said on Sunday. Bargiel whizzed down from the summit of Pakistan’s 8,611-metre (28,251-feet) K2 to the mountain’s base camp after reaching the peak with around 30 others on Saturday. “Andrzej Bargiel reached the base of the mountain. The first complete descent on ski from K2 is done!” he posted on his Facebook page. The feat was the 30-year-old’s second bid to enter the record books, after an attempt last year was scotched by bad weather. Three years ago Bargiel became the first skier in the world to descend from the nearby 8,015-meter Broad Peak. He has now skied from the summits of five of the 14 highest mountains in the world after earlier conquering Shishapangma and Manaslu peaks in the Himalayas, according to Polish media.
Known as “Savage Mountain” among climbers, K2 is often deemed a more challenging ascent than Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak. Less than 350 people have made it to the top of K2 since it was first summited in 1954. (AFP)
Guns and roses: Afghan farmers enjoy sweet smell of success
Jalalabad: Standing in a field of roses in eastern Afghanistan, former poppy grower Mohammad Din Sapai quickly but carefully plucks the delicate petals that will be turned into rose water and oils for sale around the world.
The sweet smelling crop is providing farmers in Nangarhar province with a viable alternative to growing opium poppies, the sale of which has fuelled the conflict raging across the country. “I am very happy with this harvest of flowers,” Sapai tells AFP as he stands among hundreds of blooming rose bushes.
Sapai is one of more than 800 farmers in the province bordering Pakistan benefiting from the “Roses for Nangarhar” project, a joint Afghan-German initiative set up in 2007 to encourage poppy growers to switch to a legal, money-making flower. “They provided us with the plants, the tools and even paid us for the first year when we had no harvest,” Sapai, 50, explains.
“Now I have 600 plants and I collect up to 1,200 kilos (2,650 pounds) of petals.” Opium is big business in Afghanistan, where Nangarhar is the sixth biggest poppy-producing province.
But Sapai says he is perfectly happy to grow roses. He makes enough money to support his family, and insists roses have fewer costs and take less effort.
After the rose season, which ends in May, he switches to growing vegetables. Starting at dawn and working until late morning when the heat sets in, Sapai and his workers appear resigned to the constant dangers lurking around them as they quickly pick off petals and drop them into large bags.
Nangarhar is rife with fighters belonging to the Islamic State group (IS), which emerged in Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and quickly turned the province into a stronghold.
The Taliban also roam the area, and bombs planted along the roads leading to rose fields are a constant threat. In nearby Omar Qala village, teacher and rose-grower Shah Zaman is also convinced about the benefits of harvesting petals instead of poppies.
“The people here used to cultivate poppies but this is haram (forbidden under Islamic law),” Zaman tells AFP. He expects to harvest one tonne of petals this year. “The roses are much better… I make good money from roses. They are resistant and don’t require as much expense or work.” Khan Agha, a representative for Afghan Rose Ltd which emerged out of the Afghan-German initiative, agrees.
Roses “do not require watering, fertiliser or care” — unlike poppies, he says. Rose trees are also more durable, lasting 30 to 50 years, compared with poppies, which must be planted every season. The farmers grow a variety known as Damask roses, which were brought from Bulgaria by the Germans but are endemic to Afghanistan, says Mohammad Akbar Mohmand, the owner of Afghan Rose Ltd. (AFP)