Ex-speaker gets 15 years
> His graft case is epic even by Indonesian standards
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s former parliament speaker was handed a 15-year prison term yesterday in a victory for an ongoing clampdown on widespread corruption.
Setya Novanto, once among the country’s most influential politicians, had been accused of taking millions in kickbacks and bribes linked to the national roll-out of government ID cards.
“We have found defendant Setya Novanto, beyond reasonable doubt, guilty of violating anti-corruption law,” presiding judge Yanto told the packed courtroom.
Setya, who showed little reaction to the sentence, said he would “need time” to consider an appeal.
His months-long trial came after a string of manoeuvres – including allegedly faking an injury in a car crash – that critics say the 62-year-old used to dodge serious charges.
Prosecutors had demanded a 16-year sentence.
The judge also fined Setya 500 million rupiah (RM141,000), far less than the US$7.4 million (RM29 million) prosecutors had wanted him to pay as restitution to the state.
Setya, who had managed to sidestep corruption allegations in the past, was accused of playing a key role in embezzlement from the US$440 million ID card project, with some US$170 million disappearing from state coffers.
Several other politicians, government officials and businessmen have been charged in the scandal.
The scope of the claims shocked many Indonesians even by standards of one of the world’s most corrupt countries, where payoffs and bribes are rife at all levels of society and endemic in many state agencies, including the police force.
Setya, who dodged questioning by Indonesia’s anti-corruption agency for months, was arrested in hospital in November after he claimed to have been injured in a car crash.
The reported accident came shortly after a failed raid on his palatial estate in a ritzy part of the capital. – AFP