Court sends Adiwarsita to jail
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Central Jakarta District Court convicted on Wednesday the chairman of the Indonesian Forestry Association (APHI) Adiwarsita Adinegoro to six years in jail for abusing the association's fund for a forest conservation program.
The court also handed down a four-year jail term to three other APHI officials involved in the case.
Adiwarsita, who is also a legislator from the Golkar Party, is required to pay back Rp 21.7 billion (US$2.16 million) he took from the state and another Rp 200 million in fines.
In addition, Adiwarsita and the three other APHI officials must also pay a total of Rp 43.5 billion in restitution to the state, Antara reported.
The panel of judges, led by judge Liliek Mulyadi ruled that Adiwarsita had illegally lent some $18.4 million in APHI funds to third parties, including legislators and the Raudlatul Jannah foundation.
The foundation was appointed to organize a charity program for the poor in 1999, which turned out to be fictitious. Then House Speaker and Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung was convicted in the case in 2003, but the Supreme Court later cleared him from any wrongdoing.
The loans, made during Adiwarsita's term as APHI chairman between 1998 and 2003, were not in line with APHI rules, and had caused the state to suffer some Rp 95 billion and $5.6 million in losses, the court ruled.
The funds, which were collected from APHI members including the five state forestry agencies, were supposed to finance aerial mapping for forest conservation.
Prosecutors earlier sought an eight-year jail term for Adiwarsita. However, the judges lowered the sentence because of the damage already done to his reputation as a public figure.
Other APHI officials convicted in the case include deputy chairman Abdul Fattah, treasurer Yusran Syarief and his deputy Zain Mashur.
The judges sentenced Abdul, Yusran and Zain to four years imprisonment. The three were also required to pay fine worth Rp 4.5 billion, Rp 800 million, and Rp 16.3 billion, respectively.
The convicts' lawyer, LMM Samosir said that they would appeal the verdict.