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Powerful couple jailed for bribing court judges, politician
All smiles, no pain: North Sumatraâs former governor, Gatot Pujo Nugroho (left), and his wife Evy Susanti leave the Jakarta Corruption Court after hearing the judgment against them in Jakarta on Monday
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All smiles, no pain: North Sumatraâs former governor, Gatot Pujo Nugroho (left), and his wife Evy Susanti leave the Jakarta Corruption Court after hearing the judgment against them in Jakarta on Monday. The court found the couple guilty and sentenced Gatot to three years in prison and his wife to two and a half years for giving bribes to three Medan judges.(JP/DON) (left), and his wife Evy Susanti leave the Jakarta Corruption Court after hearing the judgment against them in Jakarta on Monday. The court found the couple guilty and sentenced Gatot to three years in prison and his wife to two and a half years for giving bribes to three Medan judges.(JP/DON)
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span class="inline inline-center">All smiles, no pain: North Sumatra's former governor, Gatot Pujo Nugroho (left), and his wife Evy Susanti leave the Jakarta Corruption Court after hearing the judgment against them in Jakarta on Monday. The court found the couple guilty and sentenced Gatot to three years in prison and his wife to two and a half years for giving bribes to three Medan judges.(JP/DON)
Two graft defendants, suspended North Sumatra governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho and his wife Evy Susanti, entered the courtroom in the Jakarta Corruption Court building in Central Jakarta like a couple deeply in love.
Walking toward the defense bench, Gatot held the hands of his wife tightly and landed a kiss on her left cheek while calling on photojournalists to capture the romantic moment, shortly before seating themselves to hear the verdict in their bribery cases.
The couple, who wore matching long-sleeved batik shirts, immediately dropped all pretense when a panel of judges at the court announced their ruling of guilt, sentencing Gatot and Evy to three years and two-and-a-half years in prison, respectively.
Evy broke into tears while Gatot's face turned somber upon hearing the sentence.
Outside the courtroom, while consoling Evy, who continued her sobbing, Gatot said that he apologized to the people in his province for the guilty verdict, which he said had hurt their feelings.
'I sincerely make this apology to the people of North Sumatra. I am aware that it [the verdict] hurt their feelings as well as the political process in the province,' Gatot said with an arm around Evy's back.
Gatot said that he and Evy accepted the sentences, while KPK prosecutors said that they were considering challenging the decision in a higher court because it was lower than the four-and-a-half-year sentence they demanded for Gatot and the four years for Evy.
In July 2015 KPK prosecutors accused the couple of bribing three Medan State Administrative Court (PTUN) judges to annul a letter of investigation issued against Gatot by the North Sumatra Prosecutors' office and the Attorney General's Office (AGO) involving a case of alleged misuse of social aid funds by Gatot's office between 2009 and 2011 and also of paying off former NasDem Party secretary-general Patrice Rio Capella to defend them in the case being handled by the AGO, which is led by former NasDem politician Muhammad Prasetyo.
The panel of judges found Gatot guilty of being involved in the scheme to bribe the judges.
The judges also confirmed the role of Evy as the financial backer of the bribery scheme as she provided US$30,000 for the three judges and Rp 200 million ($15,331) for Rio.
Presiding judge Sinung Hermawan said in the ruling that the couple received lenient sentences because they had shown remorse in the course of the trial and had also agreed to become justice collaborators to uncover the roles of other suspects in the bribery scheme.
Following Gatot's admission, KPK investigators moved to arrest Rio in October for receiving the Rp 200 million bribe, payment for his work as an intermediary between the suspended governor and the AGO.
On Dec. 15, the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced Rio to one and a half years for accepting the bribe.
The panel of judges on Monday also confirmed that Gatot's legal counsel, prominent lawyer OC Kaligis, who is also a politician of the NasDem Party, was the mastermind of the bribery scheme.
The same court on Dec. 17 last year sentenced the 74-year-old Kaligis to five and a half years in prison.
The court said that although Gatot claimed he had no intention of bribing the judges or Rio and only committed the act after being forced by Kaligis, witnesses had confirmed that the bribery scheme benefitted him as the scheme was designed to keep him in power.
Gatot and Evi are the fifth couple convicted in the KPK investigation. Earlier, the KPK successfully prosecuted former Empat Lawang regent Budi Antoni Aljufri and his wife Suzana, former Palembang mayor Romi Herton, who was arrested along with his wife Masyito, former Karawang regent Ade Swara and his wife Nurlatifah and former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin and his wife Neneng Sri Wahyuni in separate graft cases.
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