The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal filed by convicted bribe businesswoman Artalyta Suryani contesting her five-year jail sentence handed down by a the Jakarta High Court.

The court also ordered the convicted businesswoman to serve an additional five months in prison should she fail to pay a Rp 250 million (US$22,593) fine.

The verdict closes Artalyta's last resort in the legal process of seeking freedom.

She previously appealed the Corruption Court verdict to Jakarta High Court, which rejected the appeal.

"The Supreme Court upholds High Jakarta Court's decision because it had made a right decision in the verdict, " Justice Artidjo Alkostar said Friday as quoted by Antara news agency.

Artalyta, a close ally of tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim, was sentenced to five years in jail and pay a Rp 250 million fine by the Corruption Court in July last year.

The Jakarta High Court added an additional sentence of five months in jail should she fail to pay the fine.

She was proven guilty of giving a cash bribe of US$660,000 to senior prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan, who was then leading a team investigating the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) cases implicating Sjamsul.

The Corruption Court sentenced Urip to 20 years in jail for accepting the bribe.

Sjamsul, former owner of the now-defunct Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia, was implicated in the embezzlement of Rp 28.4 trillion ($3.1 billion) in BLBI funds.

Sjamsul remains the single witness out of 37 who managed to bypass three interrogation sessions about his BLBI case during the investigation by the Attorney General's Office. - JP

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