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.