The Jakarta Corruption Court on Wednesday sentenced businessman Anggoro Widjojo to five years in prison and fined him Rp 250 million (US$21,042), with an additional two months in prison if he refused to pay it
he Jakarta Corruption Court onWednesday sentenced businessman Anggoro Widjojo to five years in prison andfined him Rp 250 million (US$21,042), with an additional two months in prisonif he refused to pay it.
The court found Anggoro guilty of bribing several lawmakers and former forestry minister M.S. Kaban to win the Integrated Radio Communication System (SKRT) tender held by the Forest Ministry in 2007.
The sentence was equal to the demand from Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors, based on Article 5 on gratuities to state officials in Law No. 31/1999 on corruption eradication.
'The defendant's previous decision to leave the country to avoid a lawsuit, as well as beating around the bush during questioning, are examples of aggravating factors that make his sentence heavier,' Nani Indrawati, head of the panel of judges, said.
Anggoro, the owner of PT Masaro Radiokom, was arrested in China and extradited early this year after being a fugitive for four years, when he was undergoing an investigation by the KPK as a suspect in the case.
PT Masaro Radiokom was granted the SKRT tender between 2006 and 2007 without going through any bidding process.
After the reading of the verdict, Anggoro said to the judges that he accepted the sentence, while KPK prosecutors said they would consider it first.
Anggoro was proven to have bribed several lawmakers in the House of Representatives' Commission IV overseeing transport, telecommunications, public works, public housing, village development and disadvantaged areas, through its chairman Yusuf Erwin Faishal, as well as then forestry minister Kaban and the ministry's officials.
Anggoro bribed Commission IV lawmakers with SGD$132,000 and Rp 125 million, while bribes for Kaban comprised of $85,000 in cash, one sheet of Rp 50 million traveler's checks, two elevators worth $58,581, a power generator worth Rp 350 million and $206 million worth of installation costs.
Kaban, currently chairman of the Islamic-based Crescent Star Party (PBB), asked Anggoro to install the elevators in the Menara Dakwah building where the PBB is headquartered.
Anggoro also bribed Kaban's officials with $30,000.
The SKRT project was frozen in 2004, but after Kaban took the helm of the ministry, the project was rebooted in 2007 and got the go-ahead from Commission IV. (gda)
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