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panel of judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court handed down on Wednesday a lenient five-year prison sentence to a police general in a high-profile graft case that led to a standoff between the National Police and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in 2012.

Wednesday'€™s ruling on former deputy chief of the National Police Traffic Corps (Korlantas), Brig. Gen. Didik Purnomo, in connection to a Rp 198 billion driving simulator procurement project brought the case, to a close after a lenient sentence of 10 years was handed to former Korlantas chief Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo in 2013.

Last week, KPK prosecutors demanded a seven-year sentence for Didik in connection to the case, which resulted in state losses of Rp 121 billion, while in 2013 Djoko'€™s sentence demand was 17 years behind bars. Article 2 of the 1999 Corruption Law, which the two were charged under, carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.

In addition to Didik'€™s light verdict, presiding judge Ibnu Basuki Widodo rejected KPK prosecutors'€™ demand to strip the police general of his political rights to vote and to run for office in future elections.

'€œThe defendant also should pay a fine of Rp 250 million to the state or serve an additional three months behind bars. It is unnecessary to punish the defendant further by not allowing him to run for office because it depends on whether
the public wants to elect him or not,'€ Ibnu said when reading out the verdict.

The panel of judge also ordered Didik to pay the state Rp 50 million in restitution, the same amount he pocketed for rigging the project for PT Citra Mandiri Metalindo Abadi (CMMA), which is owned by businessman Budi Susanto, who was sentenced to eight years behind bars in the case.

The firm later illegally subcontracted PT Inovasi Teknologi Indonesia, belonging to businessman Sukotjo S. Bambang, another suspect who remains free. The KPK said it was still working on Sukotjo'€™s dossiers.

Didik'€™s indictment painted a picture of outright graft, dirty money and of his recklessness as the deputy chief of Korlantas, the supervising body.

Didik accepted Rp 50 million to turn a blind eye to the illegal activity, which was engineered by his boss, Djoko, who accepted Rp 32 billion to act as a '€œguardian'€ of the project for the National Police '€” an institution deemed one of the nation'€™s most corrupt.

As much as Rp 15 billion was funneled to the National Police'€™s cooperative, while Budi and Sukotjo pocketed Rp 93 billion and Rp 3.9 billion, respectively.

In order to get then National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo to approve CMMA as the project winner, the two businessmen paid Rp 1 billion and Rp 1.5 billion in bribes to the National Police'€™s General Supervision Inspectorate (Irwasum), which later recommended Timur approve CMMA as the winner.

At the time, Irwasum was led by former deputy National Police chief Comr. Gen. Nanan Sukarna, who has been questioned by the KPK in the case. Didik'€™s indictment failed to provide details, however, regarding the recipients of bribes. Nanan has repeatedly maintained his innocence in the case.

Despite the fact that it was Timur who signed the CMMA appointment letter, the KPK has not brought him in for questioning.

Dissatisfied with the lenient sentence, Didik'€™s lawyer, Harry Ponto, said his client may challenge the verdict at the Jakarta High Court.

'€œWe will make a decision within seven days after discussing the matter with my client,'€ Harry told reporters after the hearing.