8.5 years, huge fine sought for ex-KPU chief<\/p>\n
Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The prosecution recommended on Wednesday that the chairman of the
\nGeneral Elections Commission be sentenced to eight-and-a-half
\nyears in jail and ordered to pay a Rp 450 million (US$45,000)
\nfine for corruption.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Tumpak Simanjuntak said that the defendant had been
\nproved guilty of abusing his powers as the chairman of the KPU by
\nasking for Rp 14.93 billion in kickbacks from an insurance firm
\nseeking a contract to cover election workers during the holding
\nof the 2004 general elections.<\/p>\n
\"The defendant is guilty of having enriched himself, others
\nand a private firm at the expense of the state, and this act
\nviolates the Anticorruption Law,\" he told the antigraft court.<\/p>\n
The case, seen as a test for President Susilo Bambang
\nYudhoyono's commitment to rooting out rampant corruption, emerged
\nafter the KPU was widely applauded for holding the country's
\nfirst direct presidential election last year.<\/p>\n
In a separate trial, prosecutor Wisnu Baroto recommended that
\nKPU treasurer Hamdani Amin be sentenced to five-and-a-half years
\non charges arising out of the same graft case and be ordered to
\npay fines of Rp 450 million.<\/p>\n
The prosecution also recommended that both defendants be
\nordered to repay Rp 14.93 billion in ill-gotten gains to the
\nstate or have another four years added to their sentences.<\/p>\n
Nazaruddin's wife and the former speaker of the People's
\nConsultative Assembly (MPR), Amien Rais, who attended the
\nhearing, looked shocked upon hearing the prosecution
\nrecommendation. Amien recently testified in favor of Nazaruddin,
\nsaying the poll body had successfully organized the 2004
\nlegislative and presidential elections.<\/p>\n
Nazaruddin in his capacity as KPU chairman appointed insurance
\nfirm PT Bumi Putra Muda 1967 to provide occupational accident
\ncoverage for 5.7 million election workers during the 2004 general
\nelections. No tender process was gone through.<\/p>\n
Company executives testified that they won the project
\nfollowing their acceptance of the main condition that the
\nproject's value be reduced by 34 percent -- a sum that was later
\nallocated as a kickback to the KPU.<\/p>\n
Judge Krisna Menon, who is chairing the judicial panels in
\nboth trials, said the trials would resume on Nov. 25 to hear
\ndefense arguments.<\/p>\n
The case came to the surface after commission member Mulyana
\nKusumah was caught by Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK)
\ninvestigators in a Jakarta hotel room trying to bribe a state
\nauditor (who had been wired) to overlook irregularities in the
\nKPU finances.<\/p>\n
The arrest triggered a sweeping investigation into the KPU,
\nresulting in a series of arrests that shocked many people as many
\nof those apprehended were respected members of the community who
\nwere believed to be clean.<\/p>\n
Mulyana, a criminologist, was found guilty of soliciting a
\nbribe and was sentenced to 31 months in jail, while KPU deputy
\ntreasurer M. Dentjik was given three years in jail.<\/p>",
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