Defendant in exam leak gets 10 months

JAKARTA (JP): Defendant Dwi Santoso, 25, was calm on Monday when the judge sentenced him to a mere 10-month jail term, after declaring him guilty of stealing master copies of the national high school final examinations (Ebtanas) last March.

"The defendant is guilty of leaking confidential state documents. He has however confessed to his crime, is quite young and has never had any problems with the law before," Presiding Judge M. Daming Sunusi told the Central Jakarta District Court hearing.

"He is guilty of violating Article 362 of the Criminal Code on stealing," the judge continued.

According to Daming, the jail term given to Dwi would be subtracted by the four months that Dwi already spent in police detention and the prosecutors office since his arrest in June this year.

Dwi told the court that he accepted the sentence. But prosecutor So'imah, who wanted the panel of judges to sentence the defendant to 11 years in the prison, said she needed time to consider whether to appeal the case, or not.

Dwi was charged under Article 362 and Article 322 of the Criminal Code for deliberately divulging confidential information gained by virtue of one's employment.

Article 362 carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison, while Article 322 carries a maximum punishment of nine months in prison.

The Ebtanas papers were leaked by the defendant, who worked for about three years as an office boy at the Directorate General of Elementary and Secondary Education (Dikdasmen) in the Ministry of National Education.

Dwi said he stole the papers on March 30, as instructed by Yeni, who also told him to sell the papers to ruin Sri's name.

"I sold the papers according to her instructions. I made Rp 4 million (US$425) in total and I used that money," he said. (ylt)