Corrupt executive given 16-year sentence

Corrupt executive given 16-year sentence

JAKARTA (JP): Central Jakarta District Court sentenced an
executive of a private company on Thursday to 16 years in jail
for failing to pay state-owned telecommunications company PT
Telkom for telephone cards worth Rp 22 billion (US$3 million).

Presiding judge Pangeran Siregar also fined the defendant,
Julinir Syam, 49, who is the president of telephone card
distributor PT Mutrindu Asri Sentosa, Rp 25 million and ordered
him to return Rp 17 billion in substitution funds to PT Telkom.

"The defendant admitted all his wrongdoings, but he was still
tight-lipped about the people with whom he shared the embezzled
money," Siregar said.

He said that in committing the crime the defendant was helped
by an executive of Telkom's Central Jakarta branch office,
identified as Hermawani, and another man, identified as Anas
Bajeber.

Hermawani is to be tried soon but Anas is still at large.

Siregar said Julinir signed an agreement with PT Telkom on the
purchase of telephone cards worth Rp 16 billion in April last
year.

"Under the agreement, PT Mutrindu had the right to sell the
telephone cards in Central Jakarta," he said.

The defendant gave a downpayment of Rp 1 billion and a bank
guarantee worth Rp 15 billion from Bank Rakyat Indonesia, he
said.

Julinir purchased more telephone cards, worth Rp 9 billion,
and gave a downpayment of Rp 2 billion and a bank guarantee from
the same bank of Rp 50 billion in July last year he said.

According to Siregar, all the telephone cards were sold to the
public, but Julinir never paid Telkom the arrears, that amounted
to Rp 22 billion.

He said the bank guarantees mentioned by the defendant were
found to be fake and there were no funds in them when they were
checked at the bank.

He said Julinir admitted to having used part of the money to
buy 10 cars, including a Mercedes sedan, a BMW sedan, two
Cherokee jeeps, a Jaguar sedan, a Nissan Patrol jeep and a Land
Cruiser jeep.

The defendant also used the money to rent a floor in the
Sudirman Tower's on Jl. Sudirman, South Jakarta, for his office.

Some of the rest of the money was invested by the defendant in
a company in Singapore,.

The money was also used to fund Julinir's travel to Hong Kong
last year, he said.

Siregar said the defendant, who was detained in July this
year, was found guilty of violating Article 1 of Law No. 3/71 on
corruption.

He said the court had auctioned the Mercedes and BMW sedans
and two Cherokee jeeps in September but only raised Rp 299
million. The money will be returned to PT Telkom.

He said the Jaguar, Nissan Patrol and Land Cruisers would be
returned to leasing company PT Sinar Mas Multi Finance because
the cars have not yet been fully paid for.

Prosecutor Andrizal said PT Telkom could file a new lawsuit
against the defendant to pay the substitution funds of Rp 17
billion if the defendant refused to abide by the court's verdict.

"Moreover, his and his heirs' property could also be
confiscated," Andrizal said.

He had earlier asked the court to sentence the defendant to 17
years in jail.

Both the defendant and the prosecutor were still considering
whether to appeal the judge's decision. (jun)