T

he Jambi Corruption Court sentenced Jambi Public Works Agency head Arfan and Jambi administration assistant Saifuddin to three and a half years in prison after finding them guilty of bribery on Wednesday.

Arfan and Saifuddin were among three people nabbed by investigators from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in November last year for bribing a Jambi Legislative Council (DPRD) member to secure the formulation of the province’s 2018 budget.

The incriminating factor, presiding judge Badrun Zaini said, was that Arfan and Saifuddin had committed the crime not long after the KPK had visited Jambi last November to raise antigraft awareness among public officials in the province.

The rigged deliberation of Jambi’s 2018 budget took place on Nov. 27, less than a week after the KPK’s visit. A day later, on Nov. 28, KPK investigators launched an operation and caught Arfan, Saifuddin and provincial secretary Erwan Malik red-handed for bribery.

“The defendants [Arfan and Saifuddin] have hurt the Jambi people, particularly in terms of the principle of fair development,” Badrun said as he read out the verdict.

The sentence is a year higher than the two-year-and-six-month imprisonment demanded by KPK prosecutors.

The case immediately drew public attention in Jambi after the KPK had named Arfan a suspect in another bribery case that came to light amid an ongoing KPK investigation into the first case.