Adrian jailed for life
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A court here sentenced on Wednesday businessman Adrian Herling Waworuntu to life imprisonment for his involvement in a 2002 multi-million dollar scam.
The sentence may be good news for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who recently admitted that his antigraft drive had borne little fruit.
The panel of three judges, presided over by Roki Pandjaitan, ruled that the former banker was guilty in the scandal worth Rp 1.2 trillion (US$127.8 million), involving Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI).
The 54-year-old businessman was also ordered to pay Rp 300 billion in compensation for state losses and a Rp 1 billion fine.
"The defendant enriched himself, or others, through his activities," Roki told the South Jakarta District Court, reading out the verdict.
He said the case was a major reason why numerous international organizations had ranked Indonesia as one of the world's most corrupt nations.
"Embezzlers must be punished as severely as possible because the crime is capable of destroying the economy and degrading the nation's morals," Roki added.
The judges said Adrian had been found guilty of violating the anticorruption and anti-money laundering laws and that he had done nothing that could mitigate his sentence.
"The defendant covered up (the involvement of) other parties in the case during his trials," Roki explained.
The life sentence matched prosecutor's demands against Adrian.
Adrian was arrested last year after he fled for months to Singapore and the United States to escape police investigation. He allegedly bribed a number of high-ranking officials in charge of his case.
In response, the defendant, who bowed his head during the final court hearing, said the verdict was "extremely non objective and lacked quality".
"I will appeal. I want the verdict to be based on something more substantial than a replication of the prosecutor's charges," he said after the trial.
Adrian was brought to court for his role as the financial advisor of fugitive key suspect Maria Pauline Lumowa, the owner of Gramarindo Group. It is believed that she is hiding in Singapore.
The fraud case centers around the disbursement of Rp 1.2 trillion through fake letters of credit from BNI's South Jakarta Kebayoran Baru branch to Gramarindo and PT Petindo.
The bank disbursed the money to the companies that claimed to have obtained orders from Kenya and other African countries to export sand and commodities.
With the help of BNI officials -- who have been jailed for their involvement in the case -- it channeled the funds without checking the validity of the letters of credit.
Adrian is the ninth of a total of 17 suspects convicted or tried in the BNI scandal. The first eight suspects were all sentenced to prison. John Hamenda was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment Olla Abdullah Agam, Aprilla Widata and Adrian Pandelaki, 15 years each; Richard Kountul, 10 years, and Titik Pristiwati, eight years.
BNI Kebayoran Baru head Koesadiyuwono, meanwhile, received 15 years, while Edi Santoso, the branch's customer service head was sentenced to life imprisonment last year.