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span class="inline inline-left">Like father, like son: Businessman Dendy Prasetya (foreground) and his father, legislator Zulkarnaen Djabar, arrive at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Thursday. Zulkarnaen and Dandy were sentenced to 15 years and eight years in prison, respectively, for rigging tender for Korans and computers at the Religious Affairs Ministry. (JP/Ricky Yudhistira)In the heaviest sentence ever imposed on a politician convicted of corruption, the Jakarta Corruption Court on Thursday sentenced suspended Golkar Party lawmaker Zulkarnaen Djabar to 15 years'€™
imprisonment for his role in the Koran procurement scandal.

The sentence is heavier than the 12-year prison term sought by prosecutors who charged him with rigging the tender for the procurement of Korans and laboratory equipment at the Religious Ministry.

The court also handed down an eight-year prison term for Zulkarnaen'€™s son, Dendy Prasetya, for aiding his father in the scandal along with another Golkar politician and graft convict Fahd El Fouz, who acted as a broker between the pair and the ministry.

Zulkarnaen, who served on the House of Representatives Commission VIII overseeing religious affairs, and his son were guilty of jointly abusing the former'€™s authority during the deliberation of the budget for the procurement project, and thus had violated Article 12 of Law No. 31/1999 on Corruption, said the panel of judges at the trial.

'€œWith the intervention that was made by both defendants and Fahd, the procurement process in the ministry became inefficient as the budget ballooned due to the tender being rigged to benefit specific companies,'€ said judge Hendra Yospin, reading the verdict at the Jakarta Corruption Court in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

The panel also found the father and son guilty of receiving Rp 14 billion (US$1.42 million) in bribes from Abdul Kadir Alyadrus, director of PT Sinergi Pustaka Indonesia and commissioner of PT Adhi Aksara Abadi, for them to rig the bidding process of the projects so that both companies could win the Koran tender. The value of the Koran procurement projects were Rp 22 billion in 2011 and Rp 50 billion in 2012

Besides the two Koran procurement projects, Zulkarnaen, assisted by his son and Fahd, also asked the ministry'€™s officials to award PT Batu Karya Mas the project to procure laboratory equipment worth Rp 31.2 billion.

Zulkarnaen and Dendy received Rp 3 billion and Rp 4 billion respectively, while the rest of the money was delivered to other Golkar politicians, including Fahd El Fouz and, allegedly, House Deputy Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso.

It was claimed during the trial that Priyo had received 1 percent from the Religious Affairs Ministry'€™s laboratory procurement budget. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) recently said that it had obtained definite evidence linking Priyo to the case, adding that it was still in the process of validating the evidence.

The case has also implicated officials at the ministry, including former director of sharia guidance at the directorate general for Islamic guidance, Ahmad Jauhari, who was named a suspect in early 2013 by the KPK, and Deputy Minister Nasaruddin Umar, who served as chief of the Religious Affairs Ministry'€™s Islamic education directorate general when the corruption took place under his watch.

Besides the prison term, the court also demanded Zulkarnaen and Dendy each pay Rp 300 million in fines or serve an additional month in prison. Both were also ordered to reimburse a total of Rp 11.4 billion in state losses caused by the scandal.

The judges highlighted aggravating factors against Zulkarnaen and Dendy, including the fact that they had tarnished the image of the House and the religious ministry as well as hurting the feelings of Muslims in the country given that the scandal was related to the procurement of that religion'€™s holy book.

'€œThey intervened in the procurement of Korans and thus impugned the worship of, as well as the piety and faith in, Allah,'€ said the judges.

Responding to the verdict, both Zulkarnaen and his son said they would file appeals.

'€œI really can'€™t accept the verdict and thus will appeal,'€ Zulkarnaen emotionally told reporters after the trial session ended. '€œThe verdict is definitely not fair because it wasn'€™t based on facts revealed during the trial.'€

Tama S. Langkun of the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said the verdict was the heaviest ever handed down to a politician. '€œIf we'€™re talking about a lawmaker at the House then Zulkarnaen'€™s sentence is the heaviest. But if we'€™re talking about law enforcers, then former prosecutor Urip, Tri Gunawan still holds the record,'€ he said.

Tama was referring to the case of Urip who got 20 years in prison in 2008 for accepting bribes from a businesswoman to drop an investigation into tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim in connection with the embezzlement of Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) funds.

Previously, the longest prison sentence handed to a politician was only eight years.

That sentence was handed down to former United Development Party (PPP) lawmaker Al-Amin Nasution in 2009 for his involvement in graft scandals at the Forestry Ministry. Prosecutors had demanded 10 years'€™ imprisonment for him.

Antigraft activists have long voiced their concern that the corruption courts were being lenient with graft convicts, which could hamper efforts to combat graft.

Former Democratic Party lawmaker Angelina Sondakh, for instance, was only jailed for four-and-a-half years for corruption, although the prosecutors had asked the judges to sentence her to 12 years in prison.