T

he Semarang Corruption Court has sentenced non-active Tegal Mayor Siti Masitha Soeparno to five years in prison after she was found guilty of bribery related to a construction project at Kardinah Regional General Hospital in Tegal, Central Java.

Wearing all black, Siti Masitha could not hold back her tears upon hearing the verdict that was read out in a session at the court on Monday. Her family members were seen surrounding the non-active mayor, trying to calm her down.

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutor Joko Hermawan said his prosecutors could not yet respond to the ruling because many aspects of the judge panel’s decisions needed to be examined. They included the judge panel’s refusal to revoke the graft defendant’s political rights, the panel’s ruling, which was considered too light, and additional evidence presented by prosecutors that the judges did not account for in their sentence, he added.

The judge panel declared that Siti Masitha was guilty of accepting Rp 7 billion (US$501,226) in bribes. The defendant had returned just Rp 8.5 billion of this amount, using Rp 500 million to cover her medical treatment at Siloam Hospital in Jakarta.

The judges also ordered Siti Masitha to pay Rp 200 million in fines or face an additional four months’ imprisonment.