Despite concluding in their verdict that Hendra Saputra was an unaware victim in a high profile graft case masterminded by a Cabinet minister'€™s son, the Jakarta Corruption Court went ahead on Wednesday to sentence the office boy to one year in prison for carelessly taking part in his boss'€™s scheme to rig a project.

The state project in question was the Rp 23 billion (US$2.1 million) procurement of jumbotrons for multimedia digital advertisement from Videotron Indonesia, which involved Riefan Avrian, son of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Syariefuddin '€œSyarief'€ Hasan, as a suspect.

Due to the particularity of the case, the judges sentenced Hendra to only one year in prison, which was lower than the two-and-a-half years sought by prosecutors and also defied Article 2 of the 1999 Corruption Law that stipulates a minimum sentence of four years in prison for a graft convict.

'€œThe defendant was used as a tool by Riefan, who masterminded the scenario. This verdict is a lesson for others to reject any offers from those who have power and also a lesson for those who have power to not victimize the weak,'€ said presiding judge Nani Indrawati, reading out her verdict to the court.

The elementary school drop-out was an office boy and a driver at Riefan'€™s company PT Rifuel. The judges claimed that because of his lack of adequate education, Hendra was innocently unaware of the impropriety of accepting Riefan'€™s offer to be director of PT Imaji Media, a company established by Riefan to allegedly hide his name in order to win the project.

Both companies participated in the tender, but Imaji was awarded the project, which was later illegally handed to Rifuel. Syarief paid out the full amount stated in the contract, despite the fact that Rifuel did not fulfill all of the agreements in the contract.

However, although the judges believed that Hendra was a victim, the judges concluded that he had committed a crime because he signed a number of documents related to the project.

'€œHendra was just a victim of manipulation that was masterminded by Riefan,'€ said judge Nani.

Meanwhile, Riefan is soon to stand trial, but the Jakarta Prosecutor'€™s Office on Wednesday tentatively absolved Riefan'€™s father, Syarief, saying that it had yet to find any piece of evidence suggesting the minister'€™s involvement.

'€œAs of today, we have no plan [to question Minister Syarief],'€ Prosecutor'€™s Office spokesman Waluyo said.

Unlike other high profile graft defendants, Hendra, an unskilled man from an underdeveloped village who wished to have a good job in Jakarta, did not have money to hire a prominent lawyer to defend him. During his trial, Hendra was accompanied by a free lawyer provided by the state.

If Hendra accepts the verdict, he will serve only around two months in prison as he has already served around 10 months at the detention center. Hendra is likely to serve an additional one month in jail for not being able to pay the Rp 50 million fine levied by the judges.

'€œI hope that the sentence represents justice for me. I also hope the prosecutors will not appeal the verdict,'€ Hendra said, adding that he was still undecided whether he himself would appeal the verdict.

One of the three judges voiced a dissenting opinion, urging the panel to acquit Hendra in the case, which caused Rp 2.6 billion in state losses.

Hendra'€™s lawyer Ikbal Tawakkal said that despite the judges'€™ '€œbravery'€ in defying Article 2, their conclusion that Hendra was a victim should have provided them with a strong ethical push to acquit his client.

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