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Pinangki's sentence cut raises concern over 'disparities', trend of leniency
Jakarta High Court judges argued that Pinangki should have her prison sentence cut so she could nurture her child's growth and be treated fairly as a woman.
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Suspended prosecutor Pinangki Sirna Malasari stands during a verdict hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Feb. 8, 2021. Judges sentenced her to 10 years in prison for accepting bribes from Djoko Tjandra in exchange for securing a Supreme Court acquittal. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A.)
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recent prison sentence cut given to suspended Attorney General Office’s (AGO) prosecutor and graft convict Pinangki Sirna Malasari has sparked outrage, raising concerns of a significant setback in the country’s antigraft campaign.
On Monday, a panel of judges at the Jakarta High Court ruled to cut Pinangki’s prison sentence to only four years. Additionally, she was ordered to pay a Rp 600 million (US$41,685) fine.
The Jakarta Corruption Court initially sentenced her to 10 years’ imprisonment for accepting US$500,000 in bribes from runaway graft convict Djoko Tjandra in exchange for her help in securing an acquittal from the Supreme Court.
Djoko was sentenced to two years in prison and Rp 546 billion in restitution in 2009 by the Supreme Court for his involvement in the Bank Bali corruption case. But he fled to Papua New Guinea a day before the court issued its ruling.
The police caught him in Malaysia and brought him back to the country last year. The court later found him guilty of bribing Pinangki and other law enforcement officers and sentenced Djoko to four and a half years’ imprisonment.
Among the mitigating factors considered by the high court’s bench in cutting Pinangki’s prison time was the fact that she was a mother to a four-year-old child and “deserves to be given an opportunity to nurture her child’s growth.”
