Semarang legislator gets three years in prison

Semarang City Council member Agung Purno Sarjono was sentenced Tuesday by the Semarang Corruption Court to three-and-a-half years’ in prison for corruption.

The National Mandate Party legislator was also handed a Rp 50 million (US$5,300) fine that, if not paid, will be substituted to an additional three months’ imprisonment.

“[We] declare that Agung Purno Sarjono has been found guilty of committing corruption,” presiding judge, Ifa Sudewi, said while reading out the verdict.

The verdict was lighter than the six years and Rp 200 million fine sought by prosecutors.

Both Agung and the prosecution team said they would file appeals.

Agung, along with fellow legislator Sumartono from the Democratic Party, and Akhmat Zaenuri, who was city secretary at the time of the offence, were apprehended on Nov. 24, 2011 by Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) officers with Rp 40 million in envelopes at the Semarang mayor’s office.

The money was allegedly part of a total Rp 4 billion that the city administration had promised to pay to legislators in bribes to ensure the Semarang City Council passed its 2012 city budget.

Sumartono was sentenced by the same court on May 29 to two-and-a-half years in prison and obliged to pay a Rp 50 million fine.

Akhmat was sentenced to one-and-a-half years in prison and required to pay Rp 50 million in fines.

Another suspect, inactive Semarang mayor Soemarmo HS, is scheduled to appear at the start of his trial on Wednesday at the Jakarta Corruption Court. (mtq)