Councillor gets 4 years for graft
Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
The Yogyakarta High Court has increased the sentence of convicted local councillor Herman Abdurrahman, 53, to four years in prison and fined him Rp 200 million (US$23,529) in a bribery case.
The defendant had been jailed for only two years and fined Rp 10 million by the Yogyakarta District Court last year for his key role in the Rp 150 million (US$17,647) case.
Herman, who heads the United Development Party (PPP) faction on the Yogyakarta legislative council, was found guilty of violating Article 12 of Law No. 20/2001 on corruption.
The appeal court said on Wednesday that it had forwarded its decision to the district court on Tuesday.
However, the high court did not order the prosecutors to immediately execute the verdict as Herman said he would appeal to the Supreme Court.
"I have heard the verdict but I have not yet received a copy of it from the higher court. I believe that the decision is politically motivated and is designed to unseat me," Herman said.
"Of course, I will appeal as there is no justice to be had in Yogyakarta. The court should have been independent and free from political intervention," he added.
Herman questioned why only he had been declared a suspect and jailed, while other councillors who also took bribes and had yet to return the money remained free.
"I never used the money and I returned it all to the authorities," he said.
The case revolved around the provincial government's move to seek legislative approval for Rp 9.5 billion in supplemental funds needed to complete the construction of the Jogja Expo Center (JEC).
The bribe was reportedly paid by the project's contractor, PT Adhi Karya, after the local administration complained about a lack of money.
But the managing director of the company, Duldjiman, was acquitted of all charges by the district court.
Prosecutors investigating the scandal questioned 24 witnesses, including provincial secretary Bambang Susanto Priyohadi and several councillors who received bribes.
Public pressure had been mounting for prosecutors to bring Bambang and the councillors to court.
Bambang had told the court that he had been pressured to pay the bribes and was afraid the councillors would disrupt the construction project, which was inaugurated by President Megawati Soekarnoputri in January of last year.
Herman's conviction only serves to back up the widely held belief of rampant corruption within the local legislature, as well as the bureaucracy and judiciary.
On Tuesday, the Cirebon Prosecutor's Office in West Java charged all 30 members of the local legislative council and a former mayor with corruption for allegedly marking up their allowances.
Chief prosecutor Suraini Dahlan confirmed that the councillors had been declared suspects in the case, which dates back to 2001.
The suspects include then-Cirebon mayor Lasman Suriaatmadja and the current deputy mayor, who was a councillor in 2001.
Suraini said the councillors had voted themselves allowances in the 2001 budget that were higher than the maximum allowed under government regulations.
He said that they had awarded themselves total allowances of Rp 997 million compared to the government-set maximum of Rp 400 million.