Five years' jail sought for Artalyta

Andreas D. Arditya ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 07/08/2008 10:20 AM  |  Headlines

Businesswoman Artalyta Suryani could spend the next five years in jail should the Corruption Court find her guilty of bribing state prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan.

Prosecutors demanded Monday that the court sentence her to five years in prison for giving Urip US$660,000 and Rp 100 million in alleged bribes.

The demand by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors is the maximum penalty for the crime of bribing a state official in relation to the official's authority.

The prosecutors also requested the court fine Artalyta Rp 250 million, or sentence her to an additional five months' imprisonment if she fails to pay the fine.

Urip led an Attorney General's Office team in investigating the misappropriation of Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) funds involving two tycoons, Sjamsul Nursalim and Anthony Salim.

Artalyta is believed to have close ties with Sjamsul.

The tycoon failed to show up to three questioning sessions related to his BLBI case, which the AGO dropped on Feb. 29 this year, citing a lack of evidence.

Artalyta was arrested by the KPK on March 2, about two hours after Urip was arrested at her house after accepting US$660,000 in cash from her.

The KPK prosecutors rejected Artalyta's defense that the money was a personal loan for Urip, who is also standing trial over the alleged bribery.

"In none of the 41 conversations and meetings that the defendant had with Urip, as secretly recorded by the investigators, did they talk about a personal loan," said prosecutor Jaya Sitompul, referring to a four-month intensive KPK investigation into her case.

Sitompul said if the money was a loan, then Artalyta should not have been in a state of panic when KPK officials surrounded her house before the arrest.

"The excuse was made up by the defendant in an attempt to cover up her crime," he said.

The prosecutors said there were mitigating facts to reduce Artalyta's punishment.

Artalyta previously admitted she panicked when Urip was arrested and called several high-profile officials, including former deputy attorney general for state administrative affairs Untung Udji Santoso, asking for help.

Artalyta's lawyer, Otto C. Kaligis, said after the court session that the prosecutors had no evidence Artalyta's claim was false.

"Urip testified it was indeed a loan, and the KPK has to prove the loan receipt was fake," he said.

Otto said the sentence demanded for Artalyta was too harsh and the prosecutors had failed to prove her crime.

"The KPK has accused my client of paying bribes to get information about the Sjamsul Nursalim case and to intervene in the investigation. Now I'm asking you, which part of the investigation did Urip leak to her?" the lawyer said.

The court is scheduled to reconvene next week to hear the closing defense statements from Artalyta and her lawyers.

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