Oey, Rusli get four years

Eny Wulandari ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 11/12/2008 2:51 PM  |  National

FOUND GUILTY: Former top Bank Indonesia (BI) officials Oey Hoey Tiong (right) and Rusli Simanjutak (left) speak to their lawyer O.C. Kaligis after the corruption court sentenced them on Wednesday to four years in prison for their involvement in the BI graft scandal. J/Adiguna

The Corruption Court sentenced top central bank officials Oey Hoey Tiong and Rusli Simanjutak on Wednesday to serve four years in jail and pay a Rp 200 million (US$ 18,000) fine each for their involvement in the bank scandal.

Presiding judge Moefri said both defendants would serve a further six months in jail should they fail to pay the fine.

"Both Oey and Rusli have violated article 2 of the 1999 law on corruption. They misused funds from the Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YPPI) worth Rp 100 billion," Moefri said, reading from the verdict.

A second trial judge I Made Hendra said the judges had not accepted the defendants' defense that they had not been involved in any crime because they were only doing their jobs as subordinates of the deputy governors.

"What the defendants did cannot be categorized as obeying orders because no deputy governor had the authority to disburse those fund. Their jobs were to regulate the monetary system," he said.

The sentence is lighter than the six years the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK)  prosecutors had asked for.

Both defendants said they had yet to decide whether to appeal the verdict.

The KPK has so far named Rusli, Oey, former central bank chief Burhanuddin Abdullah and lawmakers Hamka Yandhu and Anthony Zeidra Abidin as suspects in the misuse of BI funds from YPPI worth Rp 100 billion between 2003 and 2004.

Burhanuddin has been found guilty and sentenced to five years in jail. The Corruption Court is still trying the case against Hamka and Anthony.

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