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.