Camelia Pasandaran – Infamous convicted corruptor Gayus Tambunan has had his jail term cut as part of Indonesian Independence Day celebrations because the Ministry of Justice apparently does not believe that bribery is a form of corruption.
The sentence reduction is one of 33,000 similar remission given to prisoners. Also included is convicted murderer Antasari Azhar, the disgraced former head of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar, speaking at the Presidential Palace on Thursday, said the case involving Gayus, "was not corruption". "As long as he has been in jail for nine months, that is the only requirement."
Gayus, a low-level government official who amassed a fortune working at the Directorate-General of Taxation, was jailed for bribing law enforcement officials, including a trial judge and police investigators, to win an acquittal in a earlier corruption case.
The Oxford American Dictionary defines corruption as, "dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery."
Gayus was initially accused of money laundering and graft after officials discovered Rp 28 billion ($3.3 million) in his bank accounts. Prosecutors, however, changed that to the relatively minor charge of embezzlement and he was acquitted.
Gayus was jailed for seven years, a sentence that was increased to 12 years on appeal. Gayus is also facing charges of bribing prison officials and using a forged passport to enjoy holidays abroad while he was supposed to be in prison.
Akbar has previously said that inmates who received reductions had displayed good conduct during their terms and the time taken off each of their sentences was based on the length of time they had already served.
"All prisoners who have served a year of their sentence are eligible for the cuts, except for those convicted of terrorism, graft, illegal logging and drug-related crimes," Akbar said.
Sentence cuts are traditionally given to mark Independence Day on Aug. 17 and on major religious holidays – Christmas for Christians, Idul Fitri for Muslims, Galungan for Hindus and Wesak for Buddhists.
Last year, their was similar outrage over the sentence reductions given to several graft convicts, including Aulia Pohan, the father-in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's eldest son.
Akbar, asked on Thursday whether the sentence remissions served as an adequate deterrent to corruptors, said as long a the regulations were in place, the government will still give remissions."
"We can't say it is unfair or unjust because they have been punished by judges," Patrialis said. He could not say how long Gayus's prison term had been cut.
The minister said remissions could serve as a way of encouraging prisoners to behave in jail. "We train people [in prison] to be good," he claimed.
Convicted murdered Tommy Suharto, the son of former dictator Suharto, was found guilty and jailed for 15 years jail for paying a hitman to murder a Supreme Court justice in 2002, a sentence that was later reduced to 10 years on appeal. Thanks to a series of generous remissions, he was out in just four years.