T

he verdict for the middleman in the beef import graft case, Ahmad Fathanah, does not bode well for former Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, who has been accused of masterminding the graft scheme.

The panel of judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced Fathanah on Monday to 14 years in prison for his role in rigging the beef import quotas at the Agriculture Ministry as well as his role in a money laundering case.

A legal expert from Bandung-based Padjajaran University, Yesmil Anwar, said on Tuesday that Luthfi was likely to get a longer prison term given his primary role in the scandal.

'€œThe person who could be considered the gatekeeper [to the case] has already received harsh punishment, let alone the person who may have masterminded the graft scheme,'€ Yesmil told The Jakarta Post, referring to Fathanah.

He also said the prospects looked dire for Luthfi as the country'€™s court system would look at the moral responsibility of the graft suspects.

Besides having a larger role in the scandal for allegedly instructing Fathanah to serve as a broker
between the PKS, the largest Islamist political party in the country, and the ministry, Luthfi could
also receive a heavier sentence due to his position as a former leader of the party, which has long promoted itself as clean and free of graft.

'€œThe case has implicated a party that was supposed to stand for higher moral standards, so I believe he should receive harsher punishment,'€ said Yesmil.

In fact, Yesmil said the verdict for Fathanah was too lenient, considering Fathanah could also be implicated in numerous other graft cases. He said Fathanah could at least get 20 years, higher than prosecutors'€™ demand for 17.5 years.

Besides the prison time, the court also ordered Fathanah to pay a Rp 1 billion (US$ 88,105) fine or serve an additional six months behind bars if he failed to pay the amount.

The judges found him guilty of violating Article 12 of Law No. 31/1999 on corruption as well as being involved in money laundering, a violation of Article 3 of Law No. 8/2010 on money laundering.

Fathanah was culpable of receiving Rp 1.3 billion from meat importation company PT Indoguna Utama, a payment to help the company secure a government contract.

He was a middleman between Luthfi and president director of PT Indoguna Maria Elizabeth Liman.

In a meeting, Maria asked Luthfi to help convince Agriculture Minister Suswono, a PKS member, to grant an additional quota amounting to 8,000 tons for Indoguna.

Luthfi later agreed to help Maria organize a meeting with Suswono. For the service, Maria gave Fathanah Rp 300 million.

Fathanah also received Rp 1 billion from Maria to help expedite the issuance of a permit for an additional beef import quota.

For the money laundering charges, the court found evidence Fathanah had paid, transferred, spent and made currency exchange conversions using two bank accounts with total transactions amounting to Rp 38.7 billion between 2011 and 2013.

Emerson Yuntho of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) urged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to file an appeal to the Supreme Court to increase Fathanah'€™s prison term.

'€œThe court must have the audacity to hand down a harsher punishment than what the prosecutors have demanded,'€ he said.

Emerson also expected that an appeal to the Supreme Court could find Fathanah guilty of all the charges, so that it could strip him of all his illicit wealth.

The panel of judges did not find Fathanah guilty of being a recipient of money from money laundering based on Article 5 of Law No. 8/2010 on money laundering. The article concerns the passive role of a money laundering suspect.

Yenti Garnasih, a money laundering expert from Trisakti University in Jakarta, said it would be difficult for the court to punish Fathanah using the third charge as the KPK needed to prove the money he received from third parties was illicit.