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orruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors demanded on Thursday the Jakarta Corruption Court hand down a four-and-half-year prison term for palm-oil businessman Gulat Manurung in a bribery case.

Prosecutors told the panel of judges at the court that there was enough evidence to prove that Gulat had paid a US$166,100 bribe to Riau governor Annas Mamun in return for a land-conversion permit.

The bribe money was paid so that Annas could include a total of 1,188 hectares of land in Kuantan Sengingi regency and 1,214 hectares in Rokan Hilir regency, belonging to Gulat and his friends, in the 1,638,249 hectares of forest area proposed by the Riau administration for conversion into non-forest to the Forestry Ministry last year.

'€œWe call on the panel of judges to find the defendant guilty of corruption,'€ prosecutor Kresno Anto Wibowo said in the court on Thursday.

The antigraft body also demanded the court order the businessman, who was arrested by KPK investigators when handing over money to Annas in Jakarta on Sept. 16, to pay a Rp 150 million fine or serve another six months in prison.

Gulat, chairman of the Indonesian Oil Palm Farmers Association (Apkasindo) Riau chapter, was charged with Article 5 of the 1999 Corruption Law, which carries a maximum sentence of five years.

The KPK has also built a case against Annas and is ready to bring him to court soon.

Kresno said that the prosecutors had demanded 4.5 years for Gulat after seeing he showed no remorse for his wrongdoings.

Gulat broke down in tears after the panel of judges adjourned Thursday'€™s session.

He declined to comment on the sentence demand and is expected to read a defense statement next week.

The case made headlines in December when KPK prosecutors, in their indictment against Gulat, highlighted the role of current People'€™s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Zulkifli Hasan, who was the forestry minister when the bribery case took place in September.

Prosecutors claimed that Gulat moved to bribe Annas after the ministry, led by Zulkifli, issued a decree allowing the Riau administration to convert 1,638,249 hectares of forest into a non-forest area.

The prosecutors claim that during a visit to Riau in August, Zulkifli, in a speech at the administration office, encouraged people in Riau to propose changes to the status of their land so it could be included in the area for conversion.

The prosecutors said that following this encouragement by Zulkifli, who is a member of the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Riau administration conducted studies on which areas could be included.

The administration sent a revised proposal to Zulkifli, who later granted approval.

However, the prosecutors said Annas later revised the proposal sent to Zulkifli to include Gulat and his colleagues'€™ land for land conversion, because of the $166,100 given to him by the businessman in August.