Legal experts warn that light sentences will not stop corruption<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati
\nThe Jakarta Post
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Legal experts warned law enforcers that their reluctance to
\nview corruption as a serious crime would make the country
\nincapable of fighting corruption.<\/p>\n
Lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis and National Ombudsman chief
\nAntonius Sujata shared the same opinion that light sentences
\ngiven by the courts to corruptors -- reflecting the ignorance of
\nmembers of the judiciary -- would fail to act as a deterrent to
\nother corruptors.<\/p>\n
"Corruptors will learn that corruption is tolerable. The facts
\nhave shown that some of them can still earn big money without
\nfearing the sentence, which is very light," Todung told The
\nJakarta Post on Saturday.<\/p>\n
"Light sentences would only deter a small number of them; it
\nis much better to prevent more people from committing
\ncorruption," Antonius said.<\/p>\n
The former prosecutor said the first two verdicts -- on
\nHendrawan Haryono and David Nusa Wijaya -- would affect other
\nBank Indonesia Liquidity Support Fund (BLBI) misuse cases, which
\nare now on trial in several district courts here.<\/p>\n
"The two verdicts would become precedents for other, similar
\ncases," he said.<\/p>\n
Last year, the state lost its first legal battle against BLBI
\ncorruption after the South Jakarta District Court acquitted
\ndefendant Hendrawan from graft in misusing Rp 583.4 billion
\n(US$58.34 million) of the fund. He was convicted only for
\nviolating banking laws.<\/p>\n
The court sentenced him to one year in jail and ordered the
\nformer deputy director of now-defunct Bank Aspac to repay Rp 500
\nmillion or spend another three months in prison.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors earlier demanded that the court sentence the
\ndefendant to five years imprisonment and ordered the return of
\nthe Rp 583.4 billion to the state.<\/p>\n
A questionable verdict was delivered again at the West Jakarta
\nDistrict Court, which last week convicted David, former president
\nof the now-defunct Bank Umum Servitia, of corruption for misusing
\nRp 1.27 trillion of BLBI. But he was only sentenced to one year
\nin jail and fined Rp 30 million.<\/p>\n
The verdict, however, raised public suspicions of foul play in
\nthe case, as prosecutors had earlier demanded the court sentence
\nthe defendant to four years in jail.<\/p>\n
Presiding Judge P.A. Sianipar insisted the term was
\ncommensurate with the crime as the defendant was willing to repay
\nthe money misused.<\/p>\n
The short sentence given by the panel of judges was considered
\nby many to allow David time to collect the funds he had misused.<\/p>\n
Due to both light sentences, Antonius called on prosecutors to
\nappeal to a higher court in an effort to get punishments that
\nfitted the crime.<\/p>\n
"A judge should hand down punishments that will prevent the
\nrecurrence of similar crimes," he said.<\/p>\n
Currently, 10 defendants are being tried in relation to BLBI
\nviolations. They are former Bank Indonesia directors and bankers
\nfrom Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia, Bank Modern, Bank Umum
\nServitia, Bank Umum Nasional, Bank Harapan Sentosa and Bank
\nAspac.<\/p>\n
The government, through the central bank, disbursed Rp 144.5
\ntrillion from August 1997 to early 1999 to 48 commercial banks
\nduring the monetary crisis.<\/p>\n
Ironically, the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) stated in May 1999
\nthat BLBI misappropriation was merely manipulation, although it
\ncaused the state to lose about 95 percent of the funds.<\/p>\n
The government announced two years ago that it would send
\nabout 80 BLBI abuse suspects to court in the hope of punishing
\nthem, as well as recovering the funds.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/legal-experts-warn-that-light-sentences-will-not-stop-corruption-1447899208",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}