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akarta Corruption Court on Monday handed down lenient sentences to two aides of tycoon Sri Hartati Murdaya, Yani Anshori and Gondo Sudjono. The men were found gulity in a bribery scandal.

Presiding judge Gusrizal found Yani and Gondo guilty of violating 1999 Corruption Law Article 5 on bribery.

Yani, 46, general manager of PT Hardaya Inti Plantation, one of Hartati’s group of companies,
was sentenced to 18 months in prison, while Gondo, an operational director for the company, got only one year.

Yani appeared happy with the verdict.

“Praise be to God, the verdict is one and a half years. We will take our time to consider whether we want to appeal,” Yani told The Jakarta Post after the verdict.

Yani, who has worked for Hartati for 20 years, said the jail term was the best that he could have expected from the judges.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors had demanded 2.5-year jail terms for them.

Gusrizal said that the mitigating factors for Yani were that he had never been convicted before and that he was considered a good family man.

As for Gondo, Gusrizal said that although he was found guilty but he had made some effort not to participate in the plot.

Yani and Gondo were caught red-handed by KPK investigators in June when the two were handing Rp 2 billion (US$208,000) in cash as bribe to Buol regent Amran Batalipu.

The Rp 2 billion was in fact the first payment of a total Rp 3 million apparently promised by Hartati.

Yani and Gondo were delivering the bribe on the orders of Hartati, who wanted Amran to issue business licences for her plantation companies.

Hartati’s companies had been promised licences to control 4,500 hectares of land in Buol.

Aside from PT Hardaya Inti Plantation, Hartati also owned PT Cipta Cakra Murdaya which runs the business side of the oil palm plantations.

A report maintains the companies planted oil palms across 4,500 hectares of land in Central Sulawesi, although they supposedly operate on only 2,200 hectares.

KPK prosecutors have indicted Amran, on multiple charges that could see him face up to 20-years imprisonment should he be proven guilty.

The prosecutors charged Amran under Article 12a of the Anti-Corruption Law on bribery as his primary indictment.

They also accuse him of violating Article 5 on bribery and Article 11 on gratuities of the same law.

Hartati has been named suspect in the bribery scandal and is now being detained by the KPK.

Many expect Hartati, who was also member of the Democratic Party’s board of patrons and has a close relationship with president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, will reveal the benefactors behind the corrupt practices.