T

he Semarang Corruption Court sentenced former Wonosobo regent Trimawan Nugrohadi in Central Java to five years in jail for graft.

Trimawan was found guilty of stealing from the Wonosobo administration’s 2004-2005 budget, causing state loses of Rp 7.3 billion (US$798,000). The fund he stole from was allocated for the procurement of textbooks for elementary to senior high schools in the regency.

The panel of judges, led by Suyadi, also ordered the defendant to pay a fine of Rp 200 million and Rp 300 million in compensation.

The verdict was two years lighter than the sentence demand of the Wonosobo prosecutors’ office.

“If the defendant is unable to pay the compensation within one month, his wealth will be confiscated and he will also face another six months in jail,” Suyadi said.

The panel of judges explained that the defendant had violated Article 2 Paragraph 1 of Law No. 20/2001 on changes of Law No. 31/1999 on Corruption Eradication.

Responding to the verdict, Trimawan and his lawyer said they were still considering their options. “We will study the verdict,” Trimawan said after the trial.

Trimawan has been detained at the Wonosobo Prosecutors’ Office since August, 2011.

Including Trimawan’s verdict, 13 regional heads out of the 35 cities/regencies in Central Java have been sentenced to jail for corruption over the last 10 years. However, only four of those regents have served time.

One month ago, the Semarang Corruption Court sentenced former Tegal regent Agus Riyanto to 5.5 years in jail, but Agus immediately appealed the verdict.

The four former regents who have all had their verdicts upheld up to the Supreme Court are former regents of Cilacap and Kendal and two former regents of Purworejo.

Former Cilacap regent Probo Yulastoro was sentenced to four years in jail, while the former Kendal regent Hendy Boendoro got seven years.

Probo was found guilty of stealing Rp 20 billion from the Cilacap regency’s budget, while Hendy was involved in a Rp 47 billion corruption case.

Former Purworejo regent Marsaid (he served from 2000 to 2005) was sentenced to one year in jail for embezzling Rp 4.7 billion from the 2004 regional budget. In the following period, former Purworejo regent Kelik Sumrahadi was sentenced to three years in jail for embezzling Rp 2.7 million from the 2006 regional budget.

The verdicts from the Supreme Court were issued in 2010. Marsaid’s verdict was issued in December 2010, while Kelik had his sentence upheld in March in the same year.

However, the Semarang Corruption Court made another controversial decision by acquitting corruption suspect Agus Sukmaniharto of all charges on Monday.

Agus was accused of transferring Rp 13 billion in compensation for land procurement for dozens of residents whose land was bought to make way for the construction of the Semarang–Solo toll road project.

Public prosecutor Kusmartono and his team were speechless when they heard the verdict on the defendant, for whom they had demanded a jail sentence of 7.5 years.

“We will coordinate with our superiors to study the verdict. We have no idea why the defendant was acquitted of all the charges,” he said.

Agus was arrested and detained at the Semarang Prosecutors’ Office together with his friend named Hamid who acted as a middleman between Agus and land owners. Aside from that, the prosecutors’ office also planned to arrest Suyoto as head of the land clearance team for the project.

Previously, the Central Java office of the Finance and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) disclosed that the state had suffered up to Rp 12 billion in losses through the toll road project.

Presiding judge Lilik Nuraini, who freed the defendant, said that Agus could not be proven guilty as charged.

“The panel of judges also returned all the rights of the defendant and ordered that he be released from detention,” Lilik said.

Lilik said that what had been done by the defendant did not constitute a crime.

The judge also said that the defendant was believed to have bought 68 plots of land in Jatirunggo village to make way for the toll road project.

The Central Java office of nongovernmental organization the Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism Investigation and Eradication Committee (KP2KKN) was strongly against the release of the defendant.

“The judge made an extraordinary decision that has hurt our sense of justice. This is not the first in Semarang,” secretary of the committee Eko Haryanto said.

“When will we be able to discourage corrupt people who eat the people’s money? We strongly protest this,” he said.