T

he Semarang Corruption Court on Friday sentenced former Tegal Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Agustin Hardiyanto to three years in prison and fined him Rp 100 million (US$10,341) in a corruption case on the misappropriation of the 2008 regency election security operational fund.

Agustin was also ordered to pay Rp 256 million in compensation. If he fails to pay within a month after the verdict is handed down, he will be given an additional two-year prison term.

“The defendant has been found guilty for the violation as mentioned in the secondary charge,” said presiding judge Noor Ediyono, who was accompanied by judges Erintuah Damanik and Sininta Sibarani.

Agustin was considered guilty as charged on the secondary charge because the corruption practices were committed jointly and continuously for a few years. He was found guilty for violating Articles 3 (1) and 18 of Law No. 31/1999 on corruption as amended with Law No. 20/2001 and Articles 55 (1) and 64 of the Criminal Code.

Agustin was charged for misappropriating the operational fund for the 2008 Tegal regency election, which was worth Rp 6.6 billion. The fund came from the Central Java provincial and Tegal regency budgets.

A dissenting opinion, however, was expressed by judge Shininta who considered Agustin guilty as charged on the primary charge, which is a violation of Article 2 of the same law on corruption.

Sininta believed that the corruption practices enriched both Agustin and Tegal Police treasurer Second Insp. Sudar, who has also been named a suspect in the case. “The sentence should be at least four years.”

The sentence was less severe than what was demanded by prosecutors, who sought for a seven-and-a-half year jail term and a fine of Rp 200 million or an additional six months behind bars.