The Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced former Democratic Party lawmaker Sutan Bhatoegana to 10 years in prison on Wednesday for his role in a bribery case centering on the country'€™s Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.

A panel of judges found him guilty of accepting bribes from officials of the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas) in return for expediting the deliberation of the ministry'€™s budget for the 2012-2013 period.

'€œThe defendant Sutan Bhatoegana has been found guilty of corruption,'€ said presiding judge Artha Theresia, when reading out the verdict on Wednesday. The verdict was immediately met with tears from Sutan'€™s wife and two daughters, who were in the courtroom.

The sentence is one year lighter than what Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors demanded.

The judges said Sutan had accepted US$140,000 in May 2013 from then ministry secretary-general Waryono Karno. Waryono got the money from SKKMigas as repayment for approving the allocation of funds for electricity and gas subsidies, which were earlier proposed by the government when the House of Representatives deliberated the ministry'€™s budget in 2013.

Each of the seven Commission VII leaders received $7,500, while each of the 43 members received $2,500 and as much as $2,500 was also given to the commission'€™s secretariat.

'€œIt has been proven that the delivery of money by Waryono Karno to the defendant was not direct, but it is clear that there was movement of money from Waryono Karno, then ministry secretary-general, to Iryanto Muchyi, Muhammad Iqbal and Casmadi. The money was delivered to the defendant'€™s car as per his request,'€ judge Syaiful Arif said, citing the names of Sultan'€™s aides who helped in the delivery of the bribe.

Sutan was also found guilty of accepting gratuities totalling $200,000 in 2013 from then SKKMigas chief Rudi Rubiandini and a 1,194 square-meter plot of land and a house in Medan from businessman Saleh Abdul Malik, who owns PT Sam Mitra Mandiri.

The $200,000 was said to be holiday bonuses for House Commission VII members ahead of the 2013 Idul Fitri holiday. The money was just a small portion of the millions of dollars that Rudi accepted from a number of oil and gas companies, including Singapore-based oil firm Kernel Oil Pte Ltd., in 2013.

However, the judges did not find enough proof for the rest of Sultan'€™s gratuity indictment, including a Toyota Alphard van from Yan Achmad Suep, who is the director of oil and gas company PT Dara Transindo Eltra, and Rp 50 million from then energy and mineral resources minister Jero Wacik, also a senior Democratic Party politician and close aide to former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

'€œIn regard to one Toyota Alphard from Yan Achmad Suep, the vehicle was sold to the defendant for Rp 900 million, therefore it wasn'€™t a gift,'€ judge Ugo said.

According to prosecutors, evidence seemed to have been omitted. '€œFor example, the judges said there was no proof of Rp 50 million being accepted, while there'€™s witness testimony that proves otherwise,'€ said prosecutor Dody Sukmono, adding that the KPK might file an appeal.

Sutan, on the other hand, said that he would definitely file an appeal.

'€œThere'€™s a scenario [being played here], so it would have been better to not have proceeded [with the case] from the very beginning. But [we] were given hope [from the judges], who said that the pretrial petition would be considered,'€ he told reporters after the verdict announcement.

'€œThen, there were no expert witnesses. The defense plea was not considered completely. Almost 70 percent of what I heard was copy paste from the indictment.'€

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