Agus Triyono – The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned the not guilty verdict against inactive Bengkulu Governor Agusrin Maryono Najamuddin and sentenced him to four years in prison for corruption.

Agusrin, who is from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, was found guilty of embezzling Rp 20.1 billion ($2.2 million) worth of land and building tax revenues in the province in 2006.

Last May, the Central Jakarta District Court, presided over by judge Syarifuddin Umar, acquitted Agusrin of all the charges.

The same judge was arrested a month later by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for receiving Rp 250 million from Puguh Wirayawan, a curator of Skycamping Indonesia.

The bribe, the KPK said, was in exchange for a favorable ruling in a banking case. The judge is now on trial at the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court while Puguh was sentenced to three and a half years in prison last November.

Syarifuddin's arrest raised suspicions around the 39 corruption defendants he had acquitted during his time at the district court. Antigraft groups alleged Agusrin provided Rp 5 billion in bribes to the judge.

But Supreme Court judge Artidjo Alkotsar said that Syarifuddin's arrest had nothing to do with Agusrin's conviction. "There is evidence that connects Agusrin's role to that of Chaeruddin's," Artidjo said, in reference to the province's former chief of revenue and a co-defendant in the case.

Chaeruddin was sentenced to one and a half years in prison for opening up an account to launder the illicit funds. "It is impossible for a subordinate to open an account without the knowledge of his superior," Artidjo said.

Artidjo said the Supreme Court had examined cases handled by Syarifuddin shortly after he was arrested. The Supreme Court argued that although Syarifuddin had allegedly taken the bribe money, there is no indication that he had influenced other judges in the cases he had handled.

The Judicial Commission also formed an investigations team to evaluate cases handled by Syarifuddin. But the team has yet to announce the outcome of its investigation.

Prosecutors earlier said that Agusrin was having financial problems and spoke about his difficulties to Chaeruddin. Chaeruddin then suggested that Agusrin could take money from the province's land and building tax revenues and open another bank account, which was not monitored by the Provincial Legislative Council, to avoid detection.

During Agusrin's trial, Chaeruddin said that he had personally transferred Rp 7 billion into Agusrin's personal account. Chaeruddin had even shown judges pictures said to depict Agusrin receiving the money he had been given.

But Syarifuddin's court opted to ignore Chaeruddin's remarks, saying that there was little evidence to substantiate his claims. The KPK has not yet investigated antigraft groups' accusations that Syarifuddin might have also received bribe money from Agusrin.