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Another regent jailed for bribing ex-justice Akil

The Jakarta Corruption Court on Thursday sentenced suspended Morotai Island regent Rusli Sibua to four years in prison for bribing former Constitutional Court chief justice Akil Mochtar, who was earlier sentenced to life in prison in connection to the case

Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, November 27, 2015

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Another regent jailed for bribing ex-justice Akil

T

he Jakarta Corruption Court on Thursday sentenced suspended Morotai Island regent Rusli Sibua to four years in prison for bribing former Constitutional Court chief justice Akil Mochtar, who was earlier sentenced to life in prison in connection to the case.

Rusli was found guilty of giving Rp 2.9 billion (US$212,370) to Akil, who also received billions of rupiah from 10 regional heads while serving as chief justice in 2013.

The regional heads paid Akil the money so that he would award them victories in local election disputes brought before the Constitutional Court.

Akil'€™s ruling paved the way for Rusli to be reelected as Morotai regent in 2013.

The panel of judges at the court ordered Rusli to pay Rp 150 million in fines or serve an additional two months in prison.

'€œHe is guilty of corruption as regulated under Article 6 of Law No. 31/1999 on corruption,'€ said presiding judge Supriyono, reading out the verdict at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Thursday.

Article 6 carries a maximum punishment of 15 years in prison.

Thursday'€™s sentence was lighter than the six years demanded by Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors last week.

The panel of judges also declined to grant the KPK'€™s demand that Rusli pay Rp 300 million in fines or serve another four months in prison.

The court also declined to strip Rusli of his political right to run for office as demanded by the prosecutors.

The panel of judges at the court said that witness testimony and other forms of evidence during the three-month trial had confirmed that the bribe money to Akil had been wired to CV Ratu Samagad, a company run by Akil'€™s wife.

Responding to the verdict, Rusli said he would decide his next legal move the following week.

'€œAfter discussing this with my client, we have decided to take some time to consider all available options. We consider the verdict to be a miscarriage of justice,'€ Rusli'€™s lawyer, Ahmad Rifai, said.

In July 2014, the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced Akil to life in prison for accepting bribes from scores of regional heads when handling a number of local election disputes at the court between 2012 and 2014.

Akil was found guilty of accepting Rp 57 billion in bribes from a number of regional heads during his tenure on the court. The former Golkar politician was also found guilty of laundering the money.

The panel of judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court found that Akil, who was formerly a member of the House of Representatives, laundered Rp 160 billion during his term on the court and Rp 20 billion when he was in the House.

Other regional heads who have been prosecuted in the case include former Banten governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah, former deputy regent Amir Hamzah, former Palembang mayor Romi Herton, former Central Tapanuli regent Bonaran Situmeang and former Gunung Mas regent Hambit Bintih.

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