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Court Too Easy on Former Minister Bachtiar: Graft Watchdog
Rizky Amelia | February 01, 2012

Bachtiar Chamsyah was found guilty of causing Rp 337. billion ($3.88 million) in state losses tied to the procurement of goods for disaster victims from 2004-08. (JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal) Bachtiar Chamsyah was found guilty of causing Rp 337. billion ($3.88 million) in state losses tied to the procurement of goods for disaster victims from 2004-08. (JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal)
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ari0406
6:13pm Feb 1, 2012

If 1 dish = $1 and 6 dishes is equivalent with 130 days, he must end up with 80,166,667 days or 219,635 years in jail! Two hundreds twenty thousands years, my friends! Supreme Court, are you listening?

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A self-appointed civilian review of several corruption cases at the Social Affairs Ministry has called on the Supreme Court to review a lenient sentence handed down to Bachtiar Chamsyah, the former minister involved.

The cases occurred from 2004 to 2008 and concerned the procurement of beef, sewing machines and fabric rolls that was said to have cost the state Rp 33.7 billion ($3.7 million) in losses.

“The Supreme Court must correct Bachtiar’s lenient sentence,” said Donal Fariz of Indonesia Corruption Watch.

The team was established by nongovernmental organization ICW and included academics and former justice system figures such as Donal, Nurkholis Hidayat and Yance Arizona.

Last year, the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court found Bachtiar guilty of corruption and sentenced him to 20 months in prison, along with a Rp 50 million fine.

But in its ruling, the court found that Bachtiar’s actions had only enriched third parties, including the companies that supplied marked-up equipment and goods.

The failure of the trial to delve deeply into the testimony of two key witnesses, Sularto and Yusrizal, resulted in a finding of not guilty on one charge, the NGO team said.

Their review of the trial found that because the panel of judges did not pursue the flow of funds, it reached the erroneous conclusion that Bachtiar had not enriched himself.

During Bachtiar’s trial, it was revealed that funds had flowed to Insan Cendikia, a nonprofit foundation belonging to the former minister.

“Despite this, the public prosecutor chose not to pursue the testimony that suggested the accused had personally benefitted from the proceeds of corruption,” Donal said.

“It was this negligence in ignoring evidence during the trial that led to the accused going free on the charge of enriching himself,” he added.

The KPK’s prosecutors asked for only a three-year sentence for Bachtiar, out of a possible 20-year maximum under the corruption law. Furthermore, the team found that the court should have attempted to recover some of the Rp 33.7 billion in procurement losses.