T

he panel of judges at Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday sentenced a company executive to two years behind bars for bribing a regent in East Java to secure a multimillion-dollar gas contract in Madura Island in 2007.

The court also ordered the executive, Antonius Bambang Djatmiko, the director of PT Media Karya Sentosa, to pay a fine of Rp 100 million (US$7,719) for paying a total of Rp 15 billion in bribes to former Bangkalan regent Fuad Amin with regard to the gas contract.

Bambang is the first suspect to have been jailed in the high-profile bribery case, while Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors are currently drafting their indictment ahead of Fuad'€™s upcoming trial next week in the case.

The court found Antonius guilty of violating Article 5, on individuals bribing state officials, of Law No. 31/1999 on corruption eradication, which carries a maximum five years'€™ imprisonment. '€œShould the defendant be unable to pay the fine, he will have to serve a further two months in prison,'€ presiding judge Prim Haryadi said as he read the verdict at the court on Monday.

The sentence is one year lighter than the three years KPK prosecutors had demanded.

The judge found that due to the bribe Fuad had recommended that Media Karya sign a consortium agreement with Bangkalan administration-owned company PT Sumber Daya in order for the former to be able to directly buy gas from Pertamina EP, a subsidiary of state oil and gas firm Pertamina.

The gas was later sold to PT Pembangkit Jawa Bali (PJB), a subsidiary of state power operator PLN, which used the gas to generate electricity for Bangkalan regency.

The court heard that after securing the contract, Fuad asked Antonius to deliver monthly payments from June 2009 until December 2014, when Fuad was arrested for accepting the monthly bribes of Rp 800 million from Media Karya.

Last week, KPK prosecutors said in their sentence demand that Fuad was not the only recipient of bribes from Media Karya with regard to the gas contract.

Prosecutors said that Media Karya also gave money to former marketing division head of the now-defunct upstream oil and gas regulator BP Migas, Budi Indianto, for easing the way for Media Karya to get a gas allocation from the Poleng block in Madura Island.

Budi is alleged to have received Rp 2.1 billion between July 2006 and 2008 for his assistance to Media Karya. He handed Rp 500 million of the money over to investigators, according to the KPK.

The sentence demand documents also revealed that Media Karya paid unspecified sums to the director of PJB, Samiuddin, for helping the company sell its gas to PJB. The KPK has confiscated some Rp 200 million from PJB that Media Karya allegedly gave to Samiuddin.

As much as Rp 200 million was also reportedly given to PJB president director Bambang Hermyanto with regard to the gas contract. This money has also been handed over to the antigraft body.

In a separate hearing on Monday KPK prosecutors at the Jakarta Corruption Court indicted Abdul Rouf for corruption for helping to deliver the bribe money from Media Karya to the former regent.

'€œFor his services delivering a total of Rp 18 billion to Fuad Amin, the defendant earned as much as Rp 1.9 billion,'€ KPK prosecutor Nurul Widiasih told the court.

KPK prosecutors have charged Abdul under Article 5 of Law No. 31/1999 for his role in helping Media Karya to channel the money to Fuad.