C

orruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors demanded on Wednesday a five-year prison term for recaptured graft suspect Anggoro Widjojo for allegedly bribing lawmakers and ministry officials to approve a state project worth Rp 180 billion (US$15 million) in 2007.

'€œWe call on the panel of judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court to find Anggoro guilty of corruption,'€ prosecutor Andi Suharlis said, after reading a 300-page indictment on Wednesday.

Anggoro fled the country in 2008 and was recaptured in China in early February of this year. A five-year prison term was the maximum sentence that prosecutors could demand under Article 5 of the 2001 Corruption Law that establishes penalties for persons convicted of bribing state officials.

KPK prosecutors also asked the panel of judges to order Anggoro to pay a fine of Rp 250 million.

Anggooro stands accused of having paid bribes to lawmakers at the House Commission IV overseeing plantations, and Forestry Ministry officials '€” including former forestry minister MS Kaban '€” in order to secure rights to an Integrated Radio Communication System (SKRT) project in 2007.

The SKRT project was frozen in 2004, but in 2007, once Kaban was named ministry head, the project was revived and received the go ahead from House Commission IV.

KPK prosecutors said all evidence in the case pointed to Anggoro.

Experts testifying during Anggoro'€™s trial confirmed that the voices heard in conversations wiretapped by the KPK could be confirmed as Anggoro'€™s and Kaban'€™s, as well as other officials at the Forestry Ministry.

According to Anggoro'€™s indictment, on Aug. 6, 2007, Kaban texted Anggoro: '€œPlease come to my official residence now and if you can, please bring the $15,000.'€ Anggoro allegedly visited Kaban'€™s house the following day and gave him the money.

Ten days later, Kaban reportedly texted the defendant again: '€œThis is an emergency, can you send [me] $10,000? Just like the other day, bring it to my house,'€ the prosecution said.

Prosectors also claimed that Anggoro gave $20,000 to the ministry'€™s secretary-general, Boen Mochtar, and $10,000 to the ministry'€™s planning division head, Wandojo Siswanto. It was not clear whether the money was handed over based on Kaban'€™s instructions.

Prosecutors added that on Feb. 13, 2008, Anggoro instructed his driver, Isdriatmoko, to deliver $20,000 to Kaban through the minister'€™s driver, Muhammad Yusuf.

Then, on Feb. 25, 2008, Kaban allegedly requested that Anggoro deliver traveler'€™s checks worth Rp 50 million, which were given to Kaban at the Forestry Ministry.

The graft case has already resulted in the conviction of a number of politicians, including former House Commission IV chairman Yusuf Erwin Faisal, who was sentenced to 4.5 years in 2009; former Golkar Party lawmaker Azwar Chesputra; former Crescent Star Party (PBB) lawmaker Hilman Indra; and former Golkar legislator Fahri Andi Leluasa, who was given a four year prison sentence in 2010.

The indictment stated that Anggoro paid bribes of an unspecified amount to Yusuf to persuade Commission IV members to approve the ministry'€™s request to relaunch the SKRT project in August 2007.

'€œAfter accepting the money, Yusuf then distributed it to a number of Commission IV members: Rp 50 million went to Suswono, now the agriculture minister; Rp 50 million to Mukhtarudin, and Rp 50 million to Nurhadi Musawir,'€ prosecutors claimed.

The KPK instituted travel bans for Kaban and Yusuf in February this year, a move that many predicted would see the pair named as suspects in the case.