JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s anti-corruption court on Thursday convicted a former agriculture minister of corruption-related extortion, abuse of power and bribery involving contracts with private contractors and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.
Charles Yassin Limpo has become the sixth member of President Joko Widodo’s cabinet to be sentenced to prison on corruption charges, casting a shadow over efforts to clean up the government in his final months in power.
A court in the capital, Jakarta, found the former minister guilty of abusing his power to enrich himself and other officials and ordered him to pay a fine of 300 million rupiah ($18,500) or face an additional four months in prison.
“The defendant has been legally and convincingly proven guilty of corruption,” presiding judge Riant Adam Ponto said. “He was not a good example of public service. What he did was to oppose the government’s efforts to fight corruption and to enrich himself through corruption.”
Limpo was arrested in October last year. He was arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission, known as the KPK. He denies any wrongdoing.
During the trial, several ministry officials testified that secretariats, directorates and agencies within the ministry were asked to cede 20 percent of their budgets to Limpo as if they owed him money, and were threatened with losing their jobs if they refused. Vendors and suppliers were also asked to set aside funds to meet the then minister’s demands, the trial revealed.
Limpo used the bribes to buy luxury cars, gifts, apartments, chartered private jets, family parties and gatherings, religious events and pilgrimages. Limpo also used the bribes to donate humanitarian aid to disaster victims and to his own party, Nasdem.
Prosecutors, who sought a 12-year prison sentence for Limpo, said the politician received a total of 44.7 billion rupiah ($2.7 million) between January 2020 and October 2023.
In their indictment, prosecutors accused Limpo of ordering his subordinates, Kasdi Subagyono and Muhammad Hatta, who were each given four-year prison sentences in separate cases, to collect the illegal money.
During his trial, Limpo said he was the victim of political persecution and felt he had been slandered by subordinates within the ministry who feared they would be replaced or fired from their jobs.
“Ever since the investigation into this case began, there have been attempts to manipulate public opinion using wild and misleading allegations to portray me as a greedy person,” Shahroor told the court.
“I have not received any information about their objections to my orders,” Limpo said. “If they think it is wrong, they should first consult me and discuss it.”
After the judges read out the verdict, both Limpo and the prosecution told the court they were considering appealing.
Limpo, a former governor of South Sulawesi province, is the second politician from Nasdem to be prosecuted in recent years. Johnny G. PlateFormer Minister of Communications Sentenced to 15 years in prison He is due to be indicted in November 2023 on charges of corruption while overseeing the construction of mobile phone transmission towers in remote parts of the country.
Corruption is widespread in Indonesia, and the anti-corruption commission has frequently come under attack from lawmakers who want to eradicate it. Reduce permissions.
President Joko Widodo campaigned on a promise to run a clean government in a country that ranked 115th out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index.
Like Djokovic, President-elect Prabowo Subianto has vowed to fight corruption when he takes office in October.
