8.5 years, huge fine sought for ex-KPU chief

8.5 years, huge fine sought for ex-KPU chief

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The prosecution recommended on Wednesday that the chairman of the
General Elections Commission be sentenced to eight-and-a-half
years in jail and ordered to pay a Rp 450 million (US$45,000)
fine for corruption.

Prosecutor Tumpak Simanjuntak said that the defendant had been
proved guilty of abusing his powers as the chairman of the KPU by
asking for Rp 14.93 billion in kickbacks from an insurance firm
seeking a contract to cover election workers during the holding
of the 2004 general elections.

"The defendant is guilty of having enriched himself, others
and a private firm at the expense of the state, and this act
violates the Anticorruption Law," he told the antigraft court.

The case, seen as a test for President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono's commitment to rooting out rampant corruption, emerged
after the KPU was widely applauded for holding the country's
first direct presidential election last year.

In a separate trial, prosecutor Wisnu Baroto recommended that
KPU treasurer Hamdani Amin be sentenced to five-and-a-half years
on charges arising out of the same graft case and be ordered to
pay fines of Rp 450 million.

The prosecution also recommended that both defendants be
ordered to repay Rp 14.93 billion in ill-gotten gains to the
state or have another four years added to their sentences.

Nazaruddin's wife and the former speaker of the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR), Amien Rais, who attended the
hearing, looked shocked upon hearing the prosecution
recommendation. Amien recently testified in favor of Nazaruddin,
saying the poll body had successfully organized the 2004
legislative and presidential elections.

Nazaruddin in his capacity as KPU chairman appointed insurance
firm PT Bumi Putra Muda 1967 to provide occupational accident
coverage for 5.7 million election workers during the 2004 general
elections. No tender process was gone through.

Company executives testified that they won the project
following their acceptance of the main condition that the
project's value be reduced by 34 percent -- a sum that was later
allocated as a kickback to the KPU.

Judge Krisna Menon, who is chairing the judicial panels in
both trials, said the trials would resume on Nov. 25 to hear
defense arguments.

The case came to the surface after commission member Mulyana
Kusumah was caught by Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK)
investigators in a Jakarta hotel room trying to bribe a state
auditor (who had been wired) to overlook irregularities in the
KPU finances.

The arrest triggered a sweeping investigation into the KPU,
resulting in a series of arrests that shocked many people as many
of those apprehended were respected members of the community who
were believed to be clean.

Mulyana, a criminologist, was found guilty of soliciting a
bribe and was sentenced to 31 months in jail, while KPU deputy
treasurer M. Dentjik was given three years in jail.