Ex-cooperative head gets sentence

TANGERANG: The Tangerang District court sentenced the former head of PT Hardaya Aneka Shoes Industry (PT HASI)'s employee cooperative to five years in prison for embezzling Rp 668 million (US$77,675) of the cooperatives' money between 2000 and 2001.

The sentence was one year more than prosecutors were seeking.

Presiding judge M. Soleh Mokoginta said the defendant, Ichwan Indrawan, alias Iwan, alias Ong Cin Yong AD Ong Tengs Swan, 50, was guilty of embezzlement and of the abuse of his authority as the entrusted head of the cooperative.

Earlier, prosecutor R. Puji Rahardjo charged the defendant with violating Article 374 of the Criminal Code on embezzlement, and demanded the court sentence the defendant to four years in prison. The article carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison.

According to the prosecutor, the defendant withdrew money from the cooperative's account at Bank NISP and used the cash to renovate his house, purchase household goods and gamble.

The defendant told the court that he accepted the verdict.

Some 150 workers from PT HASI, a Nike shoe manufacturer on Jl. Gajah Tunggal Pasir Jaya in Jatiuwung, who attended the session applauded the verdict. -- JP