Former Indonesian investment promotion agency chief given 6 year jail term
Ex-investment chief jailed for graft
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Anticorruption Court sentenced former Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chief Theo F. Toemion to six years' imprisonment and fined him Rp 300 million (US$32,840) on Friday for misappropriating Rp 30.15 billion in state funds.
The court also ordered Theo to return Rp 23.115 billion of the funds within one month, or face the seizure of his assets for auction.
Judges met the prosecutors' demands on jail time and the fine, but they had requested he return Rp 26.346 billion of funds misused from an investment campaign in 2003 and 2004.
Presiding judge Mufri said Theo was proven guilty of stealing a total of Rp 30.15 billion in state funds, Rp 12.141 billion of which was used by the suspects to establish a television channel, Trang Channel, to promote the country's investment climate.
The court heard that Trang Channel, established on Oct. 22, 2003, but never operational, was owned by Theo through his company PT Trang Indonesia Indah.
"The state budget did not include the establishment of a television channel. Theo's reason for establishing it does not make any sense. If BKPM wanted to promote investment, it could have used the existing state television channel, TVRI," said Murfi.
"And even if it was necessary to establish another station, then it should have been an asset for BKPM, not for an individual."
PT Catur Dwi Karsa Indonesia (CDKI) should have received Rp 18.873 billion of the funds for the 2003 Indonesia Investment Year programs, but only received Rp 6.732 billion from Theo.
The court also found Theo guilty of embezzling Rp 14.320 billion of state funds from the Rp 20.8 billion allotted for the 2004 Indonesian Investment Year.
The judge said Theo used the funds to make documentaries about the investment climate in regions of the country. The filmmaking was supposed to have been done by CDKI according to the contract of work between the company and the BKPM.
Theo, a currency analyst turned politician, continued to protest his innocence after the verdict and said he would appeal.
"I'm very disappointed with everything read by the judges. None of my testimony in court was included there. The verdict doesn't represent any facts revealed during the trial sessions."
Although claiming he supported the drive to stamp out corruption, Theo said he was treated unfairly and had been singled out by "powerful people".
He demanded that law enforcers also investigate his replacement, Muhammad Lutfi, who he alleged committed worse fraud during the 2005 Indonesian Investment Year. He did not elaborate.
Theo is the second Cabinet member from Megawati Soekarnoputri's administration to be sent to jail. In February a court here sentenced former religious affairs minister Said Aqil Hussein Al-Munawwar to five years' jail for misappropriating Rp 719 billion of state funds during the 2001-2004 period.(07).
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Anticorruption Court sentenced former Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chief Theo F. Toemion to six years' imprisonment and fined him Rp 300 million (US$32,840) on Friday for misappropriating Rp 30.15 billion in state funds.
The court also ordered Theo to return Rp 23.115 billion of the funds within one month, or face the seizure of his assets for auction.
Judges met the prosecutors' demands on jail time and the fine, but they had requested he return Rp 26.346 billion of funds misused from an investment campaign in 2003 and 2004.
Presiding judge Mufri said Theo was proven guilty of stealing a total of Rp 30.15 billion in state funds, Rp 12.141 billion of which was used by the suspects to establish a television channel, Trang Channel, to promote the country's investment climate.
The court heard that Trang Channel, established on Oct. 22, 2003, but never operational, was owned by Theo through his company PT Trang Indonesia Indah.
"The state budget did not include the establishment of a television channel. Theo's reason for establishing it does not make any sense. If BKPM wanted to promote investment, it could have used the existing state television channel, TVRI," said Murfi.
"And even if it was necessary to establish another station, then it should have been an asset for BKPM, not for an individual."
PT Catur Dwi Karsa Indonesia (CDKI) should have received Rp 18.873 billion of the funds for the 2003 Indonesia Investment Year programs, but only received Rp 6.732 billion from Theo.
The court also found Theo guilty of embezzling Rp 14.320 billion of state funds from the Rp 20.8 billion allotted for the 2004 Indonesian Investment Year.
The judge said Theo used the funds to make documentaries about the investment climate in regions of the country. The filmmaking was supposed to have been done by CDKI according to the contract of work between the company and the BKPM.
Theo, a currency analyst turned politician, continued to protest his innocence after the verdict and said he would appeal.
"I'm very disappointed with everything read by the judges. None of my testimony in court was included there. The verdict doesn't represent any facts revealed during the trial sessions."
Although claiming he supported the drive to stamp out corruption, Theo said he was treated unfairly and had been singled out by "powerful people".
He demanded that law enforcers also investigate his replacement, Muhammad Lutfi, who he alleged committed worse fraud during the 2005 Indonesian Investment Year. He did not elaborate.
Theo is the second Cabinet member from Megawati Soekarnoputri's administration to be sent to jail. In February a court here sentenced former religious affairs minister Said Aqil Hussein Al-Munawwar to five years' jail for misappropriating Rp 719 billion of state funds during the 2001-2004 period.(07).