Prosecutors dismiss Akbar's defense
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Prosecutors on Wednesday rejected the defense statement by House Speaker Akbar Tandjung in the Rp 40 billion (US$4.4 million) graft scandal dubbed Buloggate II, insisting he receive a four- year prison sentence.
Prosecutor Fachmi denounced Akbar's defense as a personal expression of disappointment that carried no legal basis.
The House speaker, along with codefendants Dadang Sukandar and Winfried Simatupang, is charged with abusing Rp 40 billion in funds belonging to state-owned State Logistics Agency (Bulog) while he was minister/state secretary in 1999.
Fachmi pointed out that Winfried later returned the money although Akbar had earlier claimed the money was spent in a project which Winfried led to channel food aid through an Islamic foundation chaired by Dadang.
"If Akbar's defense is true, than the third defendant (Winfried) wouldn't have to return the money to the state and apologize," Fachmi was quoted as saying by Antara.
He was reading out the response to Akbar's defense during the public court hearing, which because of its public attention, was held at the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) office in Kemayoran, North Jakarta.
Prosecutors believe the food distribution never took place. There has also been public suspicion that the money was intended to fund Golkar's campaign -- the party Akbar chairs.
Prosecutors however fell short of examining where the money went to, especially after Winfried returned it.
In their charges, they demanded Akbar serve a four-year jail term, and his codefendants each three-and-a-half years.
Corruption carries a minimum sentence of four years in prison and a maximum of 20 years according to the 2001 revision of the 1999 Anticorruption Law. Under extraordinary cases the crime may carry the death penalty.
Prosecutors also demanded the three defendants each pay a Rp 10 million fine or otherwise serve another three months in jail.
The prosecutor's refusal to change their charges comes as a bitter birthday present for Akbar who turned 57 on Wednesday.
The Golkar chairman has had a successful political life. Akbar succeeded in preserving the party's political clout despite mass condemnation of its support for Soeharto's iron-fisted rule.
In his defense delivered on July 24, he described himself as a victim of a conspiracy to squash his political career. Akbar's lawyers aired similar suspicions in their defense statement.
Buloggate II followed a similar case implicating former president Abdurrahman Wahid in 2000. Buloggate I snowballed into a political dispute between the House and Abdurrahman that cost him his presidency. He was later acquitted of the charges.
But the notion that Buloggate II was purely a political ploy was gunned down by the prosecution.
"It was an expression of feelings by the defense team, which tried to describe the defendant within his political world," Fachmi said. The same he said of Akbar's defense.
Following the hearing, one of Akbar's lawyer Amir Syamsuddin dismissed the prosecutors' response as a rehash of their charges.
Presiding Judge Amirruddin Zakaria adjourned the hearing until August 21 to hear the defense team's rebuttal.