LOCK AND KEY: Azirwan, secretary of the Bintan regency administration, leaves a courtroom in Jakarta on Monday. The Corruption Court sentenced Azirwan to 30 months in prison for bribery in a forest conversion scandal in which a number of lawmakers were implicated. (JP)
Suspended Bintan administration secretary Azirwan has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for bribery in a forest conversion scandal implicating several lawmakers.
The Corruption Court also fined him Rp 100 million (US$11,000) or an additional three months in jail should he fail to pay the fine.
"The defendant has been proved guilty of violating Article 5(1a) and Article 13 of the 1999 law against corruption," presiding judge Mansyurdin Chaniago said in handing down the verdict on Monday.
Article 5 carries a maximum penalty of five years.
The panel of judges cited several mitigating factors taken into consideration for the sentencing.
"The first (mitigating factor) is he admitted his mistake and expressed regret. Second, he has been cooperative during his court sessions and third he has served for 28 years as a state official," Mansyurdin said.
He said Azirwan had been found guilty of giving a total of Rp 3 billion in bribes to Al Amin Nasution, a legislator with the House of Representatives' Commission IV overseeing forestry, agriculture and fisheries.
The money was given to the United Development Party lawmaker over several occasions, the presiding judge added, listing the dates.
The court found Azirwan gave Al Amin Rp 100 million in the lawmaker's official house in Kalibata, South Jakarta, on Dec. 2, 2007, and Rp 150 million in Riau on Dec. 11, 2007.
Al Amin received S$150,000 on Jan. 25, 2008, and another S$150,000 and Rp 1.5 million on April 7, 2008, at a hotel, Mansyurdin said.
Azirwan also spent about Rp 6 million on April 28, 2008, entertaining Al Amin at a hotel, the judge added.
The bribes were intended to secure approval from the House to convert part of a protected forest in Bintan regency into a commercial area.
The local administration planned to convert 8,300 hectares of protected forest into the regency's new capital Bandar Seri Bintan.
Local administrations must submit any forest conversion request to the forestry minister. The conversion must then be approved by House Commission IV.
Azirwan and Al Amin were arrested at a luxury hotel in South Jakarta around midnight on April 2008, just hours after Commission IV approved the conversion project.
Al Amin is now standing trial over the same case.
Although other legislators have been implicated in the case, none of them has been declared a suspect.
Four other lawmakers from the same commission -- Sudjud Sirajuddin of the National Mandate Party, Hilman Indra of the Crescent Star Party and Azwar Chesputra and Syarfi Hutauruk of the Golkar Party -- and former legislator Yusuf Emir Faishal of the National Awakening Party have been linked to the Azirwan case.
Yusuf Emir is now a suspect in a separate corruption case linked to a forest conversion permit in Banyuasin, South Sumatra, as is Commission IV member Sarjan Taher of the Democratic Party.
In response to the verdict, Azirwan said he was considering whether or not to appeal.
During the trial, Azirwan said he had paid Al Amin the bribe because Commission IV threatened not to approve the planned forest conversion.
"That the judges' consideration did not include the fact my client was under threat is the reason we need some time to think over our next step," Azirwan's lawyer Rusydi Arlond Bakar said after the hearing on Monday.
