T

he Supreme Court (MA) delivered on Monday a harsher punishment to former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum for having been convicted in graft and money laundering cases that toppled him from party chairmanship in 2013.

The court increased his eight-year prison sentence to 14 years and stripped the politician of his political right to run for office as soon as he finished serving time.

Once a rising star in politics, Anas is the second former party chairman whose political rights have been revoked after a graft conviction.

The MA removed former Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Lutfhi Hasan Ishaaq'€™s political rights in September 2014 for being found guilty in another graft case.

'€œThe panel of judges at the MA, which consists of Artidjo Alkostar and other justices MS Lumme and Krisna Harahap, decided to reject the defendant'€™s cassation plea because the MA deemed that he was convincingly guilty of corruption and money laundering,'€ court spokesman Suhadi told The Jakarta Post on Monday night.

The panel of justices sent a strong message that graft convicts who attempted to have prison sentences reduced or annulled would fail.

The court has instead deliver heavier sentences to corruption convicts, who are submitting cassation petitions to the highest judiciary authority.

Tommy Hendratno, a former tax officer found guilty of accepting bribes, had his three-and-a-half-year prison sentence increased to 10 years in 2013, also by a panel of justices headed by Artidjo, who in the same year increased former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nasaruddin'€™s sentence from four years and 10 months to seven years.

Democratic Party politician Angelina Sondakh also saw her prison term increased by Artidjo from four-and-a-half years to 12 years.

The court ordered Anas to pay a fine of Rp 5 billion (US$ 374,000) for his offenses or serve an additional one year and four months behind bars if he failed to pay.

He was also ordered to return a total of Rp 57.5 billion to state coffers, the same amount that he stole from a number of projects when serving as the chairman of the former ruling party under the leadership of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

In September 2014, the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced Anas to eight years behind bars and demanded he make restitution payments of Rp 57.5 billion and $5.2 million after finding him guilty of corruption and money laundering.

The sentence was less than half of the 15-year prison term sought by Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors. The prosecutors said earlier that Anas had accepted Rp 94 billion and $5.2 million during his tenure as a member of the House of Representatives from 2009 to 2010.

The panel of judges found that Anas had spent most of the ill-gotten money to fund his successful chairmanship campaign bid during the 2010 Democratic Party Congress in Bandung, West Java.

Anas was also found guilty of spending $1.3 million and Rp 700 million '€” the amount left over after the conclusion of the party congress '€” to purchase several plots of land in Jakarta and Yogyakarta that he registered under the names of various in-laws.

While serving as a lawmaker, the court found Anas had illegally accepted a Toyota Harrier worth Rp 670 million and a Rp 735 million Toyota Alphard Velfire, and had received services from the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) polling agency worth Rp 478 million ahead of the 2010 Democratic Party Congress.

Responding to the MA'€™s verdicts, Anas'€™ lawyer Handika Honggo Wongso described the court'€™s sentence as '€œcruel'€ and '€œviolating the principle of fair justice'€.

'€œIt is a crazy verdict. Thus, we will look for legal ways to challenge it,'€ Handika said.