Legislator gets six years in patrol boat bribery scandal

Irawaty Wardany ,  THE JAKARTA POST ,  JAKARTA   |  Thu, 03/19/2009 10:40 AM  |  Headlines

Shipped off to jail: Lawmaker Bulyan Royan (left) talks with his lawyer Supriyanto Reva at the Corruption Court in Jakarta on Wednesday. The court sentenced Bulyan to six years in prison and fined him Rp 350 million for accepting bribes during the purchase of 20 patrol boats for the transportation ministry last year. JP/J. ADIGUNA

Reform Star Party (PBR) lawmaker Bulyan Royan was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for taking  bribes from patrol boat suppliers of the Transportation Ministry.

“The defendant has legally and convincingly been found guilty of corruption,” presiding judge Gusrizal said, reading out a verdict at the Corruption Court on Wednesday.

The panel of judges ruled that Bulyan must pay Rp 350 million (US$29,337) in fine or he serve an additional six months in prison should he fail to pay it.

Bulyan was also obliged to pay Rp 2 billion of restitution to the state, minus US$80,000 which had been confiscated by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Prosecutors had demanded the defendant be jailed for eight years for the crime.

However, the judges said Bulyan’s confession to the crime and his polite behavior at the court were an incriminating factor to reduce his sentence.

Bulyan, a member of the House of Representatives’ Commission V for  transportation and housing affairs, received Rp 3.4 billion in cash from five shipbuilding firms to secure bids last year.

Some Rp 1.4 billion of the money was confiscated by the KPK when Bulyan was caught red-handed upon cashing in the bribe, which was transferred through his company’s PT Tetra Dua Sisi account at a mall in Jakarta in June 2008.

Bulyan told officials of the companies that the House had approved a Rp 300 billion budget for the procurement of 20 patrol boats for the ministry.

The procurement was divided into five separate packages. He offered these to the companies and demanded an 8 percent fee in return for securing their appointments.

The KPK had said that in 2007, Bulyan received Rp 2 billion from the five companies as down payments to secure the project.

The extrajudicial fee was negotiated to 7 percent and that on June 25, 2008, he received a Rp 1.4 billion fee from Dedy Suwarsono of PT Bina Mina Perkasa, which was also transferred to Bulyan’s PT Tetra Dua Sisi account.

Two days later, the defendant withdrew $80,000 at a mall in Jakarta. On June 30, 2008, Bulyan also withdrew $66,000 and 5,500 euros, also at a mall, when KPK officials arrested him.

Dedy was convicted last year and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for his role in the same case.The KPK also named two Transportation Ministry officials — director of coastal protection Djoni Anwar Algamar and division head of operational equipment and infrastructure Tansean Parlindungan Malau — as suspects. Djoni allegedly accepted Rp 5 million from Bulyan and Tansean got Rp 15.2 million and $2,000.

Responding to the verdict, Bulyan said he will decide in a week whether to file an appeal or not.
However, his lawyer Sapriyanto Reva said his client will likely appeal against the ruling because prosecutors did not demand the payment of a restitution from Bulyan.

Also what Bulyan did in the case did not cause any loses to the state, he argued further.

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