El Idris gets 2 years in prison

The Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced on Wednesday Mohamad El Idris to two years in prison on for bribing a public official in the graft-ridden athletes’ village construction project commissioned by the Youth and Sports Ministry.

The same court sentenced a middleman in the case, Mindo Rosalina "Rosa" Manulang, to two-and-a-half years in prison earlier on the same day. Rosa worked for former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin, another suspect in the case.

“The defendant has been proven guilty of violating the Anti-Corruption Law,” said presiding judge Suwidya when delivering the verdict on Wednesday.

“We sentence him to two years in prison and order him to pay Rp 200 million (US$22,600) in fines or serve another six months.”

Suwidya said El Idris, who worked for PT Duta Graha Indah (DGI), paid three checks worth Rp 3.2 billion to ministry secretary Wafid Muharram to win the company's bid to build the athletes' village for the upcoming SEA Games in Palembang, South Sumatra.

El Idris, in the presence of Rosa, paid Wafid the bribes at Wafid's office in April, just minutes before investigators from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) raided the place and nabbed the three.

Suwidya added that earlier in February, El Idris paid four checks worth Rp 4.3 billion to Nazaruddin as a commission for helping DGI win the Rp 191 billion project.

El Idris and DGI president director Dudung Purwadi came to the office of Nazaruddin's company, PT Anak Negeri, in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta, last year to meet Nazaruddin, whom he had met in previous construction projects.

Nazaruddin, who acted as a go-between in the case, later asked Rosa -- a marketing director at Anak Negeri -- to follow up on the meeting and help El Idris secure the bid.

Rosa was the one who first introduced El Idris and Dudung to Wafid.

KPK prosecutors earlier demanded three years and six months in prison for El Idris. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years.