{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1130140,
        "msgid": "eleven-councillors-get-suspended-jail-terms-for-corruption-1447893297",
        "date": "2005-09-16 00:00:00",
        "title": "Eleven councillors get suspended jail terms for corruption",
        "author": null,
        "source": "JP",
        "tags": null,
        "topic": null,
        "summary": "Eleven councillors get suspended jail terms for corruption Suherjoko The Jakarta Post\/Semarang Amid the ongoing crackdown on corruption, Semarang District Court on Thursday handed down one-year suspended jail terms to 11 former city councillors found guilty of corruption.",
        "content": "<p>Eleven councillors get suspended jail terms for corruption<\/p>\n<p>Suherjoko<br>\nThe Jakarta Post\/Semarang<\/p>\n<p>Amid the ongoing crackdown on corruption, Semarang District Court <br>\non Thursday handed down one-year suspended jail terms to 11 <br>\nformer city councillors found guilty of corruption.<\/p>\n<p>The suspended jail terms mean that each of the former <br>\ncouncillors will walk free, but any one of them can be put behind <br>\nbars for one year should he commit a crime over the course of the <br>\nnext two years, said the district court judicial panel.<\/p>\n<p>The 11 defendants sat on the 45-strong city council between <br>\n1994 and 2004. They went on trial last February.<\/p>\n<p>In three separate courtrooms on Thursday, three different <br>\njudicial panels concluded that the 11 defendants had not <br>\ninflicted financial losses on the state. However, they agreed <br>\nthat the defendants had conspired to misappropriate state funds.<\/p>\n<p>Initially, the defendants were charged with corruption in <br>\nconnection with the budget process during their early years on <br>\nthe council.<\/p>\n<p>They had incorporated an item in the council budget named the <br>\ncouncillors' service allowance account, which amounted to Rp 2.16 <br>\nbillion, while at the time also making allocations for official <br>\ntravel allowances amounting to Rp 1.375 billion and council <br>\nactivities support allowances amounting to Rp 1.115 billion.<\/p>\n<p>Local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) accused the <br>\ncouncillors of manipulating the budget for their own ends.<\/p>\n<p>After the case surfaced, then Central Java Governor Mardiyanto <br>\nordered the city councillors to amend the budget so as to ensure <br>\nthat state funds were not misappropriated.<\/p>\n<p>Besides the 11 former Semarang city councillors, other courts <br>\nin Central Java are currently trying hundreds of former and <br>\nserving councillors from 18 out of a total of 35 cities\/regencies <br>\nin the province on corruption charges.<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/eleven-councillors-get-suspended-jail-terms-for-corruption-1447893297",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}