Indonesia’s Jakarta Corruption Court on Thursday sentenced former Agriculture Minister Charles Yassin Limpo to 10 years in prison on corruption charges, local newspaper The Jakarta Post reported. Judge Riant Adam Ponto said Limpo was ordered to pay a fine of 300 million rupiah and compensation of about 14.6 billion rupiah.
The court found Limpo guilty of embezzlement, with Judge Riant Adam Ponto saying he was not a model civil servant and acted contrary to government efforts to eradicate corruption. Prosecutors said Limpo extorted more than 44 billion rupiah from Agriculture Ministry officials for personal expenses. He allegedly used the money for luxury apartments, private jets and donations to political parties.
Limpo denied any wrongdoing and claimed the sentence was the result of political persecution and manipulation of public opinion. He said his subordinates, Muhammad Hatta and Kasdi Subagyono, who ordered the recovery of the misappropriated funds, did not oppose the recovery of the funds. Limpo said his subordinates should have consulted him or spoken up before recovering the funds if they thought it was inappropriate. Hatta and Subagyono were sentenced to four years in prison for their roles in the case.
The court said Limpo could face a further four months in prison if he fails to pay the fine. He has seven days to appeal against the conviction.
Indonesia is currently ranked 115th out of 180 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, an NGO focused on tracking government corruption globally. Previously, on November 22, 2023, Jakarta police special crimes chief Ade Safri Simanjuntak asserted that there was “sufficient evidence” to identify Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Firli Bahri as a suspect in the Limpo-linked extortion case. Additionally, on October 2, 2013, the KPK arrested the country’s top constitutional court justice on suspicion of accepting more than $250,000 in bribes.
