Two museum employees jailed for painting theft

Two museum employees jailed for painting theft

JAKARTA (JP): Two National Museum employees received jail terms yesterday for their part in the theft of 25 priceless paintings last year.

A Central Jakarta District Court judge sentenced Bambang Widoyono, 38, to three years imprisonment and Supandi, 41, to two years in jail.

Both men were staff of the museum's conservation department.

They were convicted of conspiracy to steal under Article 363 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years.

Prosecutor Amri Sata had requested more severe terms of four years for Bambang and three years for Supandi.

The paintings, including five works of the late Basoeki Abdullah, were removed from the museum between March and May last year. The theft came to light in September when some of Basoeki's and Raden Saleh's paintings were included in a Christie's Singapore auction catalog.

The paintings were latter retrieved, but police are still searching for a Singaporean collector, named Michael Lee, who they believe was the brains behind the scheme.

The prosecutor estimated the value of the 25 paintings at more than US$400,000.

The defendants received between Rp 3 million (US$1,200) and Rp 6 million (US$2,400) for each painting from Lee. Bambang took a larger cut of the money, according to the prosecution.

Presiding judge Subardi said as employees of the museum they should have guarded all museum's assets.

"The defendants also deserve these sentences because their crime drew widespread public attention," Subardi said.

Among the mitigating factors cited by the judge were that the two men had no prior record, they had admitted the offenses and showed remorse. (12)