rosecutors from the Attorney General Office’s (AGO) recently demanded that businessman and recidivist Heru Hidayat be sentenced to death for his involvement in one of Indonesia's largest graft cases, in a rare move against white-collar crime.
But this has raised questions on whether capital punishment is a deterrent to corruption.
Heru is accused of stealing Rp 12.6 trillion (US$875 million) from state-owned PT Asabri, which manages insurance and pension funds for the military, the police and employees of the Defense Ministry, in a case that also implicates at least 22 other people.
Prosecutors also demanded that the court order Heru to pay fines of the same amount with the money he stole. The Asabri case is estimated to have incurred Rp 22.78 trillion in state losses.
Previously, Heru, along with another businessman, was found guilty of corruption and money laundering in one of Indonesia’s largest economic crimes pertaining to state insurer PT Asuransi Jiwasraya. They were each sentenced to life in prison in October last year for causing at least Rp 16.8 trillion in state losses.
Prosecutors in the Asabri case cited Heru's repeat offense as an incriminating factor, along with the huge state losses caused.
In a statement after the trial, Heru’s lawyer, Kresna Hutauruk, argued it was not a repeated offense because the Asabri case happened before Heru’s conviction in the Jiwasraya case, kompas.id reported.
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