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Fifteen years sought for graft defendant Bahasyim
Taken to court: Tax graft defendant Bahasyim Assifi e is escorted by prosecutors to stand trial at the Corruption Court in Jakarta on Monday
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span class="inline inline-left">Taken to court: Tax graft defendant Bahasyim Assifi e is escorted by prosecutors to stand trial at the Corruption Court in Jakarta on Monday. JP/R. Berto Wedhatama. Prosecutors at South Jakarta District Court requested former tax official Bahasyim Assifie be sentenced to 15 years in prison for corruption and money laundering.
“We ask the court to sentence Bahasyim Assifie to 15 years in prison,” prosecutor Fachrizal said Monday.
The prosecutors, led by Fachrizal, also asked the court to fine Bahasyim Rp 500 million (US$55,000) or have him serve an additional six months in prison.
Prosecutors said Bahasyim, who is a suspect in a Rp 64 billion money laundering and corruption case, “took advantage of his position during his tenure to gain fraudulent wealth”.
On Sept. 30 last year during Bahasyim’s first trial, prosecutors accused Bahasyim of extorting
Rp 1 billion from Kartini Mulyadi in February of 2005. Kartini, who succumbed to Bahasyim’s threats for fear that her company would suffer from tax problems, transferred the money to Bahasyim’s wife Sri Purwanti’s bank account.
According to prosecutors, it has been proven that Bahasyim used his family member’s bank accounts to assist with his crimes.
Recently, prosecutors have come under fire for delaying three times the reading of the sentencing request. The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) said the prosecutors were not being professional, while graft watchdogs saw possible corruption behind the delays.
The first postponement occurred on Jan. 3 after Bahasyim failed to attend the hearing due to health problems. At the rescheduled hearing the following week, prosecutors postponed the proceedings claiming they were not ready with the sentencing request.
Prosecutors failed to read the sentencing request a third time last Wednesday with the same excuse, which angered presiding judge Didik Setyo Handono, who gave prosecutors one last chance on Monday.
Bahasyim’s activities were first made public in April when the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) revealed that Bahasyim, who had worked for 34 years at the tax office, had suspicious savings of over Rp 70 billion. The money laundering watchdog found Bahasyim had been tax brokering for years. Prosecutors also said Monday that as a state official, Bahasyim had failed to disclose all his wealth to the Corruption Eradication Commission.
