Andreas D. Arditya, Jakarta – The Corruption Court sentenced businesswoman Artalyta Suryani to five years in prison on Tuesday for bribing state prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan.
The panel of judges was unanimous in convicting Artalyta in the bribery case, which they said was aimed at stopping the Attorney General's Office (AGO) investigation into the misappropriation of Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) funds involving tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim earlier this year.
"The defendant had received information and advice from Urip about the BLBI investigation. In turn, Urip accepted US$660,000 from her on March 2, 2008," judge Dudu Duswara said.
Urip, who led the probe into Sjamsul's case, is also on trial for bribery in the Corruption Court.
At a previous hearing Artalyta admitted to her close relationship with Sjamsul but denied the bribery charges.
Sjamsul managed to evade three questioning sessions about his BLBI case, which the AGO dropped on Feb. 29, 2008, citing a lack of evidence. Just two days later the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested Urip and Artalyta at her house in South Jakarta.
Artalyta insisted the money she gave Urip was a loan for his auto repair business and presented the court with a proposal letter from Urip as evidence.
But the court rejected Artalyta's defense, saying there was no legal evidence to support her argument.
"The discussion about the financial transaction was a long process, but the proposal document was a single sheet without clear details of calculations," said another judge, Andi Bachtiar.
The KPK said it had closely monitored communications between Artalyta and Urip since early December 2007 and did not find any discussions about a loan in the 44 recorded telephone conversations.
In addition to the five-year jail term, which was the maximum penalty for such a crime as demanded by prosecutors, the court also ordered Artalyta to pay a fine of Rp 250 million.
Artalyta was given seven days to decide whether to appeal the decision. "I will think about it," she told the courtroom, which was packed with about 300 of her supporters and guarded by around 100 police officers.
The judges said they found no mitigating facts that allowed them to reduce her penalty. "The defendant did not admit to her crime and was not cooperative during the trial. Her actions damaged Indonesia's law enforcement system," presiding judge Mansyurdin Chaniago said.
Three senior AGO officials who were implicated in Artalyta's case were forced to give up their positions. Following Artalyta's arrest on March 2, the AGO dismissed deputy attorney general for special crimes Kemas Yahya Rahman and director of special criminal investigations Muhammad Salim.
During the trial, Kemas and Salim separately admitted to having met with Artalyta at the AGO building in relation to the BLBI investigation.
In June, Untung Udji Santoso resigned from the AGO after being dismissed from his position as deputy attorney general for state administrative affairs after admitting to have communicated with Artalyta.