T

he Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced on Thursday a private firm executive to eight years in prison for his role in the graft-ridden vehicle simulator procurement project at the National Police Traffic Corps Division (Korlantas).

'€œWe find defendant Budi Susanto guilty of corruption,'€ presiding judge Amin Ismanto said in his verdict.

In the verdict, the panel of judges also ordered Budi, an executive and owner of PT Citra Mandiri Metalindo, to pay Rp 500 million (US$41.500) or serve another six months in prison should he fail to pay the fine.

The court also demanded Budi pay the state back Rp 17.3 billion.

'€œIf his wealth is not sufficient to pay the amount, he has to serve another two years in prison,'€ Amin said.

The panel of judges found Budi guilty of violating Article 2 of Law No. 31/1999 on corruption by marking up the budget of the Rp 200 billion project.

He was also found guilty of enriching himself with money he swindled from project amounting to Rp 88 billion.

The sentence was four years less than the maximum 12 years demanded by Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors. KPK prosecutors also demanded the judges order Budi to pay Rp 500 million in fines and return Rp 88.4 billion to the state.

The prosecutors said that if Budi failed to return the money within one month after the verdict was handed down, then his assets would be seized.

The panel of judges rejected the prosecutors'€™ last demand.

'€œWe could not prove with solid evidence that he had incurred state losses of Rp 88.4 billion,'€ Amin said.

According to the case dossier, Budi was involved in a corruption case with former National Police Traffic Corps (Korlantas) chief Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo, former corps deputy chief Brig. Gen. Didik Purnomo, procurement auction committee chairman Adj. Sr. Comr. Teddy Rusmawan and PT Inovasi Teknologi Indonesia director Sukotjo S. Bambang.

Other than guilty of inflating the budget of the vehicle simulator procurement project, Budi, with the help of Teddy, was also found guilty of rigging the project'€™s tender process in order for his company to win the tender.

Thus far, the KPK has named four suspects in the case, namely Budi, Djoko, Didik and Sukotjo. Besides Budi, only Djoko has been convicted.

Djoko was initially sentenced by the Jakarta Corruption Court to 10 years'€™ imprisonment. The Jakarta High Court, however, increased his prison term to 18 years.

In its verdict, the Jakarta High Court also ordered Djoko to return Rp 32 billion to the state, the total amount of money that he gained from the project.

Antigraft watchdogs have alleged that the House of Representatives could be complicit in the multi-million graft case.

Lawmakers from the Golkar Party, the Democratic Party (PD) and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) reportedly received a total of Rp 10 billion from National Police top officials in return for allocating funds from the state budget to the vehicle simulator project.

PD and Golkar reportedly each received Rp 4 billion, while the PDI-P received Rp 2 billion in kickbacks.

According to the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), state losses resulting from the project amounted to Rp 144.98 billion.

Responding to the judges'€™ verdict, both Budi and KPK prosecutors said that they would take the seven days given by the court to decide whether to file an appeal.

'€œMy team of lawyers will think about what we will do next,'€ Budi said.