Court hands down harsher punishment for Puteh<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court would appear to have sounded the death knell
\nfor the efforts by suspended Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh to
\navoid going to prison after it upheld his conviction on graft
\ncharges in relation to events stretching back to 2001.<\/p>\n
The court, comprising five justices, also upheld Puteh's 10-
\nyear jail term, fined him Rp 500 million (US$50,000) and ordered
\nhim to pay Rp 6.56 billion in restitution, up Rp 5 billion from
\nhigh court's verdict, to the state within one month or spend
\nanother three years in jail.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court ruling is of final legal effect, although
\nPuteh is still at liberty to seek a review should new evidence
\ncome to light.<\/p>\n
Court orders requiring convicted defendants to make
\nrestitution within a certain period of time have rarely been
\nissued in high profile graft cases here to date.<\/p>\n
\"The (Supreme Court) finds Abdullah Puteh guilty of unlawfully
\nenriching both himself and other parties as charged under the
\nfirst count,\" presiding justice Artidjo Alkostar said during the
\ncourt session, which was open to the public.<\/p>\n
Puteh was not present to hear the court's decision.<\/p>\n
A decision of the Supreme Court is seldom read out in open
\ncourt. A verdict was last delivered by the Supreme Court in
\npublic when it acquitted then House of Representatives speaker
\nAkbar Tandjung of graft charges in February 2004.<\/p>\n
Puteh was sentenced to 10 years in jail by the Anticorruption
\nCourt last April for self-enrichment and abuse of power
\nin the purchase of a Russian-made helicopter for the province in
\n2001.<\/p>\n
On appeal, the Jakarta High Court dropped the first charge but
\nupheld the jail term imposed on Puteh. It also reduced the amount
\nPuteh was required to pay in restitution from Rp 3.6 billion to
\nRp 1 billion. One of Puteh's lawyers, Tengku Syarifuddin Popon,
\nand two officials of the Jakarta High Court, Ramadhan Rizal and
\nM. Sholeh, are currently standing trial in a bribery case arising
\nout of the proceedings in the high court in the Puteh case.<\/p>\n
One of Puteh's lawyers, Muhammad Assegaf, said the verdict was
\n\"nonsense\", adding that the helicopter was an asset of Aceh
\nprovince.<\/p>\n
\"The helicopter does not belong to my client. How can he be
\nordered to pay restitution?\" Assegaf said, adding that he would
\ndiscuss further legal moves with Puteh.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court rejected arguments from the defense that the
\nlower courts had failed to respect due process.<\/p>\n
The lawyers said the investigation conducted by the Corruption
\nEradication Commission (KPK), had constituted a breach of due
\nprocess as it had violated the rule against retroactivity. The
\nKPK was only set up in 2002.<\/p>\n
But the court found that the KPK had not in fact violated the
\nrule as the offense of corruption has been punishable by the same
\nsentence from 2001 to date.<\/p>\n
\"The lower courts decisions to hear the Puteh case accord
\nwith the popular sense of justice as the public have suffered
\ngreatly as a result of widespread corruption. The efforts to
\neradicate corruption may no longer be pursued through normal
\nmeans but rather require extraordinary ones,\" said Artidjo.<\/p>\n
The justices found that Puteh's corruption had inflicted
\nlosses of Rp 10.8 billion on the state, consisting of money paid
\nout of the Aceh administration's budget into Puteh's personal
\naccount with Bank Bukopin in Jakarta to finance the purchase of
\nthe helicopter.<\/p>\n
A total of Rp 3.4 billion was later transferred to Bram
\nManoppo, who heads PT Putra Pobiagan Mandiri, the firm that
\nbrokered the deal. Bram is now standing trial on charges arising
\nout of the same events.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/court-hands-down-harsher-punishment-for-puteh-1447893297",
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