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Wafid May Get Six Years In Scam
Rizky Amelia | November 23, 2011

Suspended Youth and Sports Affairs Ministry Ministry Wafid Muharram after prosecutors demanded a six-year sentence over allegations he accepted a bribe in connection with the development of the athletes Suspended Youth and Sports Affairs Ministry Ministry Wafid Muharram after prosecutors demanded a six-year sentence over allegations he accepted a bribe in connection with the development of the athletes' village in Palembang. (JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal)
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exbrit
9:37am Nov 24, 2011

MAY get six years?. Depends how many friends in high places he has.

serenityjam
7:49am Nov 24, 2011

Aside from imprisonment and fine for Wahid, our government needs to install strict standards and procedures in awarding contracts. This is to remove the possibility of corruption if there is another unit that audits and monitors every step of the process from accrediting bidders/suppliers/contractors to bidding to awarding.

With a system to avoid anyone bribing the decision maker, we shall be able to minimize corruption and, perhaps, eliminate it totally.

Anyone offered with large sums of money can be tempted to accept the bribe. But, if there is check and balance, independent from the bids/awards committee, the temptation is lessened.

Even if we jail every corrupt government official but the system is not fool-proof, the cycle of corruption never ends.

Next time, we should also publish the names and photos of the people suspected to have offered the bribe more often than the one who received it.

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Prosecutors have demanded a six-year sentence for a sports ministry official charged in relation to the corruption scandal surrounding the Southeast Asian Games athletes’ village project.

Prosecutor Agus Salim told the Anti-Corruption Court in Jakarta that suspended Youth and Sports Affairs Ministry secretary Wafid Muharam accepted checks worth Rp 3.2 billion ($355,000) in return for awarding the Rp 191 billion project to private construction company Duta Graha Indah.

“We demand that the panel of judges hand down a jail sentence of six years and a fine of Rp 200 million or six more months in detention,” Agus said on Wednesday, a day after the Games closed in elaborate fashion in Palembang, the city where the athletes’ village was built.

Two people earlier found guilty of bribing Wafid, Muhammad El Idris of Duta Graha Indah and Mindo Rosalina Manulang of Anak Negeri, have already been sentenced to two and two and a half years in prison, respectively.

Prosecutors argued that Wafid deserved a longer sentence because as a civil servant, his actions did not support the government’s drive to eradicate corruption and he did not serve as a good role model for his employees.

The same case has dragged down former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin, who owns Anak Negeri and is now awaiting trial, and eventually led to a legal maelstrom that involved at least 10 different cases.

Another prosecutor, Handarbaeni Sayekti, said Wafid was believed to have steered Idris to contact the head of the committee for the construction of the athletes’ village, Rizal Abdullah, who had the power to decide who won the construction project.

Wafid also is said to have influenced the committee to give the project to Duta Graha Indah.

“The defendant worked with Rizal so that PT Duta Graha Indah could be helped in getting the athletes’ village project,” Handarbaeni said.

He said Wafid also had convinced the verification team, without any study or field visit, to green-light the project’s Rp 191 billion budget.

“The decision to allot Rp 191 billion for the athletes’ village construction came following his instruction,” Handarbaeni said.

The prosecutor also questioned where cash in various currencies — including $128,248, 170,000 Australian dollars ($165,000), 3,765 euros ($5,000) and Rp 99.3 million found in his office, and $5,000 found in his bag when arrested — came from.

“This money does not come from legal sources and can be suspected to come from corruption,” Handarbaeni said, adding that the defendant, who only earned Rp 9.2 million a month, was unlikely to possess such sums through legal means.

“God willing, I will file my defense plea,” Wafid told the court. His trial resumes on Nov. 30.