Former Dems official gets 2 year jail term for graft

Former Democratic Party Bengkulu branch chief Murman Effendi was sentenced on Tuesday to two years in jail. KOMPAS/ALIF ICHWAN

Former Democratic Party Bengkulu branch chief Murman Effendi was sentenced on Tuesday to two years in jail for bribing 27 Seluma Regional Council members to win approval for an infrastructure project during his tenure as Seluma regent in Bengkulu.

Jakarta Corruption Court judges found the inactive regent guilty of paying each council member in checks worth Rp 100 million and cash of between Rp 1 million to Rp 1.5 million in 2010. The bribes were paid to enact local regulation for an infrastructure development fund and road and bridge construction that was reportedly favorable to his company PT Puguk Sakti Permai.

After the council members issued the regulation, Murman ordered the Seluma Public Works Agency to award the project tender to his company. The prosecutors found the company, then run by four members of Murman’s family, was in actually owned byMurman himself.

“The defendant was proven guilty and the panel decided to send him to prison for two years,” presiding judge Marsudin Nainggolan said on Tuesday. “He is also required to pay Rp 100 million in fines or serve an additional three months in jail.”

The sentence was lighter than the five years demanded by Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors. KPK investigators arrested Murman in September last year.

In July last year the Democratic Party’s ethics council issued a recommendation to dismiss Murman from his position within the party after he was implicated in the case.

Murman said he would have a two-week timeline to think before deciding whether or not to file an appeal.