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12 years sought for ex-minister Syahrul in Agriculture Ministry corruption case
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Former agriculture minister and graft defendant Syahrul Yasin Limpo heads to the defendant's chair during a sentence demand hearing against him at the Jakarta Corruption Court in Jakarta on June 28, 2024. (Antara/M Risyal Hidayat)
C
orruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors have asked a court to sentence Syahrul Yasin Limpo, former agriculture minister and NasDem Party politician, to 12 years in prison for his role in a bribery case in the Agriculture Ministry.
The panel of judges should also punish the former minister with a Rp 500 million (US$30,580) fine.
"We also demanded that Syahrul be sentenced to pay Rp 44.3 billion and $30,000 in restitution within a month of the verdict being legally binding, or serve an additional four years in prison," KPK prosecutor Meyer Simanjuntak read the sentence demand during a hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court in Jakarta on Friday.
The antigraft body charged Syahrul with soliciting bribes and accepting gratuities from his colleagues at the Agriculture Ministry. According to the KPK, he accepted a total of Rp 44.5 billion between January 2020 and October 2023.
In the indictment letter, prosecutors accused Syahrul of ordering his two subordinates, the ministry’s former secretary-general Kasdi Subagyono and former agricultural machinery equipment director Muhammad Hatta, to collect money from various divisions within the Agriculture Ministry.
The two officials were also arrested and indicted by the KPK in separate cases.
Each of the ministry’s secretariats, directorates general and agencies was required to give up 20 percent of their budgets to Syahrul, despite the lack of an allocation for the minister in the official budget. The money, according to the KPK, should be paid over as though the officials had a debt to Syahrul.
