Former BPN chief jailed for bribery<\/p>\n
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang<\/p>\n
The Tangerang District Court cleared the former Tangerang
\nmunicipal land agency chief of corruption charges on Monday but
\nsentenced him to eight months in prison for receiving a bribe.<\/p>\n
A panel of judges led by Zainal Arifin and including Ade
\nKomarudin and Sri Hardini ruled that Satmojo SW was guilty of
\nviolating Article 419 of the Criminal Code on bribery.<\/p>\n
The court found that he received 1,050 square meters of land
\nfrom a subdistrict official in compensation for issuing 2,281
\nland documents.<\/p>\n
The sentence handed down by the court was far more lenient
\nthan the sentencing demand of prosecutor Hasran Harahap. He had
\nasked the court to sentence Satmojo to five years in jail for
\nviolating Article 1 of Law No. 3\/1971 on corruption, which
\ncarries a maximum punishment of life in prison.<\/p>\n
Between 1998 and 2000, the defendant signed and handed out
\nland documents to 2,281 residents in four subdistricts in
\nTangerang municipality, charging them between Rp 700,000 and Rp 1
\nmillion, according to the prosecutor.<\/p>\n
The official fee for the service is Rp 283,000, as stipulated
\nin Ministry of Agriculture Decree No. 4\/1995 on land
\ncertificates.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor accused the defendant of collecting Rp 1.6
\nbillion from the residents, of which he gave Rp 45 million to the
\nstate and shared the rest with three members of his staff --
\nDudung Abdullah, Dedy Cahyadi and Santoso -- who are still at
\nlarge.<\/p>\n
The judges, however, had a different view.<\/p>\n
\"The defendant had no knowledge that his staff members were
\ncollecting between Rp 700,000 and Rp 1 million from the residents
\nto arrange these documents, but he admitted that he received a
\nplot of land from a Sukasari subdistrict official identified as
\nSubhan for signing the documents,\" said Zainal.<\/p>\n
Both the prosecutor and the defendant's lawyer, Durapati
\nSinulingga, said they were considering appealing the verdict.<\/p>\n
The defendant was arrested in 2001. He was in detention for
\neight months but has been under house arrest since his trial
\nbegan last year.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/former-bpn-chief-jailed-for-bribery-1447893297",
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