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Djoko"Blue Energy" Suprapto gets 3.5 years for deception
The Jakarta Post , Bantul | Thu, 01/22/2009 2:32 PM | National
The Bantul District Court sentenced Thursday Djoko Suprapto -- a man who once deceived President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono with an alternative energy scam he called "Blue Energy" -- for defrauding The University of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta of Rp 1.5 billion (US$127,118).
A panel of judges told a hearing that Djoko was proven to have violated Article No. 378 of the Criminal Code for deception and Article No. 372 of the Criminal Code for embezzlement.
Kompas.com reported Thursday that Djoko was proven to have persuaded University of Muhammadiyah's rector Khoiruddin Bashori into providing money to finance bogus projects.
Djoko's first claimed that he would develop an alternative fuel that would use seawater as a substitute for fossil-fuels.
The university agreed to finance development of the new fuel "aswhich" [which literally means fire water] and gave Djoko over Rp 625 million to construct a seawater refinery.
For his second scam, Djoko proposed the development of a water power plant in Bantul, which he claimed would be able to generate three megawatts of electricity. Djoko, however, failed to finish the project and the university lost Rp 1.5 billion.
Responding to the verdict, Djoko said that he would file for an appeal. (ewd)
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Nairdah (not verified) — Fri, 01/23/2009 - 6:14am
Djoko is little more than a prankster for which the sentence is excessive.
If Djoko is jailed for 3.5 years for his confidence trick then some corrupt politicians that use comparable tricks to embezzle millions should be jailed for 35 years
The real villains in this case are the university officials who did not call for peer review and who were gullible enough to let a common prankster take advantage of them. What is their sentence? Hopefully a lifetime of obscurity and a complete lacking in credibility. They have contributed to the embarrassment of the President and of Indonesia internationally.
Perhaps the university should sue its own officials for incompetence leading to public ridicule and financial losses to the university.
Those advisors close to the President have to be more proactive in protecting the President from pranksters and confidence men. This is not the first case where their defences were down.
Jose Dinoy (not verified) — Thu, 01/22/2009 - 3:43pm
I wonder if the University of Muhammadiyah would not have done a peer review of Djoko Suprapto's research proposal before committing the funds? Perhaps Djoko's ties to the President were good enough. The same connection likely caused the rediculous sentence of 3.5 years. Between research and deception is only a very thins line; that's why peer reviews are so important.