Ex-bank chief gets one-year in jail for graft
Ex-bank chief gets one-year in jail for graft
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The former president of the now-defunct Bank Umum Servitia was
found guilty of corruption on Monday for the misuse of the Bank
Indonesian Liquidity Support (BLBI) that led to Rp 1.27 trillion
in losses for the state.
David Nusa Wijaya was ordered to pay back the money.
But the defendant was only sentenced to one year in jail --
even though the charge carried a maximum sentence of 20 years.
In addition, the West Jakarta District Court fined David Rp 30
million.
He had been detained for over three months, and currently is
under house arrest.
The sentence, handed down by a panel of judges presided over
by judge P.A. Sianipar, was far lighter than prosecutor M.
Farela's recommendation of four years in jail.
"The defendant was cooperative during the trial, and he had
never been found guilty of a crime before," the judge said when
announcing the verdict, citing the mitigating factors.
Outside the courtroom, he told reporters that the judges only
gave David one year with the hope that, after he finished serving
out his jail term, he would have time to amass enough money to
re-pay the misappropriated funds.
"We gave him the chance to re-pay the money -- it is not a
small amount," he said.
Both the prosecution and the defense team said that they would
consider appealing.
David who, along with the bank's operational director,
Wuryatin Nusa, were charged with misusing BLBI in 1998 by
transferring most of the fund to Bank Sembada Artha Nugraha,
which was also linked to Bank Umum Sertivia, and used the rest
for their own interest.
Wuryatin is currently at large.
The Supreme Audit Agency revealed in 1999 that 48 commercial
banks had misused 95 percent out of the Rp 144.5 trillion
extended by the state between 1997 and 1999 to aid them during
the economic crisis.
David is the second defendant in the BLBI case who had been
convicted.
The state lost the first case against Hendrawan Harjono of
Bank Aspac after the South Jakarta District Court ruled that the
defendant was not guilty of corruption -- even though the state
had suffered Rp 584.3 billion in losses.
The panel of judges, presided over by Mochtar Ritonga, said
that the defendant violated banking laws. He was sentenced to one
year in jail, and was ordered to pay a Rp 500 million fine -- or
continue another three months of imprisonment.
There are 10 other people on trial in the BLBI case. Three of
them -- Hendra Rahardja, Eko Edy Putranto, and Sherny Konjongian
of BHS Bank -- are being tried in absentia at the Central Jakarta
District Court, as they are still at large.
Prosecutors were scheduled on Monday to present their
sentencing recommendations for the three defendants, who are
accused of misusing Rp 2.659 trillion.
Instead of hearing the sentencing requests, however, the panel
of judges, presided over by Soebardi, allowed the team of lawyers
to read out their "legal opinions."
"This is ridiculous," a clearly frustrated prosecutor Andi
Rachman Asbar told reporters after the hearing. "How could they
have allowed the lawyers to read legal opinions -- which
tantamount to a defense -- if their clients were on the run?"
The lawyers, who could not present a plea on behalf of their
clients who were at large, read their legal opinions after they
secured a permit from the Jakarta High Court.
The prosecutor said that he would read the sentencing
recommendations on Tuesday.