North Minahasa regent gets 18 months for corruption

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 05/17/2008 11:15 AM  |  Headlines

The Anti-Corruption Court sentenced on Friday Vonnie Anneke Panambunan, suspended regent of North Minahasa, in North Sulawesi province, to 18 months jail for embezzling Rp 4 billion (US$433,000) of state funds.

The sentence, the lightest ever awarded by the court, is less than the two years demanded by prosecutors.

The court also ordered Vonnie to repay the state loss and to pay an additional fine of Rp 100 million, or spend an additional six months in prison.

"I accept (the punishment)," she said, in response to the verdict. Vonnie had already admitted her crime.

The prosecutors have yet to decide if they will appeal against the sentence (within seven days).

Vonnie has already repaid Rp 4 billion to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), acknowledging her crime. The court ordered that a small excess paid to the state over and above what she embezzled should be given back to her.

Presiding, judge Moefri said Vonnie was found guilty of benefiting from a conspiracy involving a feasibility study for the construction of Loa Kulu airport in Kutai Kartanegara regency in East Kalimantan in 2003.

According to the judges, in 2003, Vonnie, together with James Frans Sumese and Budiono Surasno, established a company, PT Mahakam Diastar Internasional (MDI), using Rp 1 million of her money, for the sole purpose of getting the project contract from the regency.

The judges said Vonnie had previously asked the then Kutai Kartanegara regent, Syaukani Hasan Rais, to give her a project from one of the richest regencies in Indonesia.

MDI, which was registered as a trade enterprise, got the feasibility project, with a value of more than Rp 7 billion, through the approval of Syaukani, who has also been sent to prison for abusing his authority during his period as regent.

The company later contracted the project out to PT Encona Engineering, where Surasno was a director. His company completed the job for Rp 2.2 billion.

Judges said the project profited Vonnieby more than Rp 4 billion, Surasno by Rp 600 million and James by between Rp 200 million and Rp 300 million.

"The defendant violated the Anti-Corruption Law by abusing her authority when MDI made an offer and accepted the contract for the feasibility study, although MDI was not qualified for the work," said one of the judges.

Vonnie's lawyer Yafet Rissy said although his client had accepted the punishment, Vonnie was not the only guilty party.

"The court should have also considered the actions of the project tender committee and the project leader," he said.

Vonnie is the second regent to be convicted and sent to prison this year. Last month, the court sentenced Agus Supriyadi, regent of Garut, West Java, to seven years and six months in prison for misappropriating Rp 9.1 billion of the regional budget.

The court is currently hearing the trial of Tengku Azmun Jaafar, regent of Pelalawan Riau, who is accused of illegally issuing forest resource utilization permits to 15 companies and stealing Rp 1.2 trillion in state funds in the process. (dre)

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