Rizky Amelia, Ezra Sihite & Novianti Setuningsih – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party called Friday's verdict in the corruption case of its former treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin fair and appropriate.
Indonesia Corruption Watch, however, slammed the four-year, 10-month prison term handed down to the former lawmaker, saying it was far too lenient for such a high-profile graft convict.
Emerson Yuntho of the ICW said the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court should have jailed Nazaruddin for seven years, as demanded by prosecutors, or more.
"According to the ICW's records, there are many cases where convicts get sentences higher than those demanded by the prosecutors [at the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court]," Emerson told the Jakarta Globe.
"But the judges seemed to simply follow the pattern of most judges, handing down a sentence that was only two-thirds of the prosecutors' demand."
Democratic Party officials said they were pleased that the court had not connected the bribes received by Nazaruddin with the party's 2010 congress in Bandung, where Anas Urbaningrum was elected party chairman.
Amir Syamsuddin, the justice and human rights minister, who is on the party's board of patrons, said the court had made its decision independently. He lauded the judges for dismissing what he called Nazaruddin's irrelevant accusations against the party. "It was a fair trial," he said.
Nazaruddin's arrest and trial have given a black eye to the president and the Democrats, with surveys showing both suffering dips in popularity.
He was a rising star in the president's party until it all came crashing down last year as he fled the country following the emergence of graft allegations. He was convicted of taking about $500,000 to help a construction company to win a contract to build the athletes' village for the Southeast Asian Games last year.
The party's deputy chairman, Sutan Bhatoegana, said they were satisfied with the verdict. "From the beginning we trusted and respected the judges," he said." Hopefully this can be a lesson for Nazaruddin and won't hurt the public's sense of justice."
"[The sentence] is sufficient," he added. Nazaruddin has repeatedly said he provided money to help Anas win the party chairmanship at the Bandung congress.
Yulianis, former vice director of Nazaruddin's Permai Group, supported her former boss's claim, saying Rp 30 billion ($3.3 million) and $5 million were provided to the Democratic Party to help fund the congress.
She said $3 million came from donations while the rest, Rp 30 billion and $2 million, came from the Permai Group. The $3 million, she said, was received by Nazaruddin's driver and one of his staff members. The money was later kept in the office of Nazaruddin's wife, Neneng Sri Wahyuni.
Yulianis was adamant that the money was intended to help fund the congress, though Nazaruddin claimed at the same hearing that it was to help Anas win the party's chairmanship during the congress. In its verdict, however, the court dismissed the claims, saying the congress had nothing to do with the SEA Games scandal.
Democratic Party lawmaker Gede Pasek Suardika said the court's verdict was evidence that there was no corruption involved in the congress. "It has been proven that the congress had nothing to do with the SEA Games case," he said.
Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng, who has been named by Nazaruddin and other witnesses as having received bribes, said the party accepted the court's verdict.
The ICW demanded that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) quickly continue with its investigations into other cases involving Nazaruddin. "And the KPK should have no doubt now about following up names that Nazaruddin implicated during his trial," Emerson said.