Rahardi handed light sentence for graft

Rahardi handed light sentence for graft

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The country's embattled court system was dealt another severe
blow on Tuesday as former State Logistics Agency (Bulog) chief
Rahardi Ramelan, accused of abuse of power in the disbursement of
Rp 62.9 billion (more than US$7 million), was sentenced to two
years in jail.

However, he will remain free as the court has not ordered a
date for him to start his sentence.

The term was far from the five-year jail term demanded by
state prosecutors, who charged Rahardi under the Anticorruption
Law for the 1999 crime when he was head of the agency.

The panel of judges at the South Jakarta District Court,
presided over by Lalu Mariyun, argued that no evidence had been
produced in court to prove the prosecutors' charges that Rahardi
had enriched himself.

Distinguishing the case from the related Rp 40 billion graft
involving former minister/Cabinet secretary Akbar Tandjung, the
court found Rahardi guilty for the expenditure of Rp 4.6 billion
to bail out retailer PT Goro Batara Sakti's debt to Bulog. He was
also blamed for channeling Rp 400 million to Laode Kamaluddin,
who is Vice President Hamzah Haz's advisor and a member of the
People's Consultative Assembly, in a bid to influence favorable
media coverage for former president B.J. Habibie, who was about
to run in the 1999 election.

Rahardi was also ordered to cover the Rp 400 million in state
losses and to pay another Rp 50 million in fines.

An observer at the hearing, Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW)
coordinator Teten Masduki, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that
the verdict "is not proper".

"The judges screened the charges. Distinguishing Akbar's case
from Rahardi's will likely free Akbar of all charges. If that
happens, I think the verdict will be a part of a systematic
effort to release Akbar from legal proceedings," he said.

Another district court sentenced Akbar, the incumbent House of
Representatives speaker and Golkar Party chairman, to three years
in prison, but he has since filed an appeal.

Many believe that Akbar channeled the money to bankroll the
Golkar party's 1999 election campaign.

The remaining Bulog funds were used for other purposes,
including sponsoring athletes, paying presidential guards,
developing a science center and paying for festivities for the
Independence Day celebration.

"The court can understand these expenditures because it was in
the country's interest," Mariyun said.

The court considered several compounding factors in its
verdict: the defendant maintained innocence and showed no remorse
while his defense was that the reimbursement of the money was in
accordance with Bulog's common practices, although it was not in
line with the reform agenda.

"For the mitigating factors, the defendant has not been
convicted of other offenses; he is an honorable person who is
often awarded for his contributions to the academic field, while
the country still needs his knowledge and experience," Mariyun
said.

Rahardi told the court that he had not committed a crime and
could not accept the verdict.

Both Rahardi's defense team and prosecutor Yahya Kemas Rahman
are considering filing an appeal to the high court.