Jakarta – A panel of judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced on Monday former member of the House of Representatives Amin Santoso to eight years in prison and a fine of Rp 300 million (US$21,497) for bribery.

"Amin Santoso is proven guilty of committing corruption," presiding judge Muhammad Arifin said at the court, as quoted by tempo.co. In addition to the sentence, the Democratic Party politician is barred from politics for three years.

Amin was found guilty of receiving Rp 3.3 billion in bribes from Central Lampung Regent Mustafa and Iwan Binangkit construction firm director Ahmad Ghiast to allocate additional funds for Central Lampung and West Java's Sumedang in the 2018 state budget.

The case started when a consultant named Eka Kamaludin suggested that he offer such "services" to several cities or regencies, given his position as a member of the House Commission XI that oversees banking and finance.

For his service, Amin asked each city or regency to pay a fee amounting to 7 percent of the additional budget they received. He was also in cahoots with a Finance Ministry official named Yaya Purnama to realize the additional budget allocation.

About Rp 300 million of the Rp 3.3 billion in bribes was handed to Yaya, while Rp 475 million was given to Eka. (vny)

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/02/05/dems-politician-gets-eight-years-for-bribery.html