Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has sanctioned 12 prosecutors in response to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's demand that judicial corruption be eliminated in the country, a Judicial Corruption Taskforce member said Tuesday.

"[The AGO's internal monitoring division] has investigated 12 prosecutors. The investigation showed that the 12 were unscrupulous when handling Gayus H. Tambunan's case," task force secretary Denny Indrayana said, as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Gayus is a former low-ranking tax officer who was found to have stashed savings in suspicious bank accounts totaling almost Rp 100 billion (US$11.2 million). He claimed to have evaded criminal charges in late 2009 by bribing several top police officers, prosecutors and judges.

Gayus was recently sentenced to seven years in prison for graft. Denny said the 12 prosecutors were penalized for neglecting to include corruption and money laundering on the list of charges against Gayus.