The Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced on Wednesday former Indonesian ambassador to the US Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat to 30 months in prison for graft related to international meetings and conferences organized by the Foreign Ministry between 2004 and 2005.

Sudjadnan was secretary-general at the ministry, which was led by former minister Hassan Wirajuda at that time, when the corruption took place, causing Rp 11 billion (US$955,898) in state losses.

'€œOur examination has found the defendant guilty of corruption collectively with other individuals,'€ presiding judge Nani Indrawati read the verdict at the court on Wednesday.

In the verdict, the judges also ordered Sudjadnan to pay a Rp 100 million fine.

The judges said that Sudjadjan had committed the graft together with the ministry'€™s finance bureau head, Warsita Eka, and ministry budget division head I Gusti Putu Adnyana by appointing event organizers without going through the proper procedures, and by presenting bogus reports on finances for the international events.

'€œCourt evidence suggests that there was a kind of cooperation between the defendant and Putu and Eka from the beginning until the end of the case,'€ judge Anwar said at the court.

The panel of judges said Sudjadnan was not proven to have enriched himself with Rp 330 million from the case as accused by Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors, but he was found guilty of enriching Putu and Eka with Rp 165 million each as well as PT Pactoconvex Niagatama with Rp 500 million.

The judges also said that Hassan did not receive any money from the events as suggested by KPK prosecutors.

In their verdict, the judges mentioned a number of mitigating factors for Sudjadnan, saying he had shown remorse for his actions and that some of the international events organized by him had positive impacts on the country at a time when it was reeling from the Boxing Day tsunami and the Bali Bombing.

Wednesday'€™s sentence was lower than the three-year sentence demand.

The judges said that one of incriminating factors for Sudjadnan was that he had been sentenced for corruption in a separate case.

Back in 2008, while still serving as ambassador to the US, Sudjadnan was named a suspect for his role in the mark-up in the renovation project at the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore between 2003 and 2004. The procurement project was worth $1.98 million.

During Sudjadnan'€™s corruption trial in 2008, former ambassador to Singapore Mochamad Slamet Hidayat, who was also convicted, revealed that Sudjadnan had received $200,000 from the project funds when he was secretary-general.

In January 2011, the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced him to one-year and eight months in prison. He was released on parole in early 2012. One year later, he was arrested by the antigraft body in the current case.

Responding to the verdict, Sudjadnan said he was considering filing an appeal.

'€œI will make use the seven days given by the court to decide whether to appeal or not.'€

'€” JP/Haeril Halim

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