Indonesia corruption court sentences former agriculture minister to 10 years over graft charges News
Ministry of Agriculture (Indonesia), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Indonesia corruption court sentences former agriculture minister to 10 years over graft charges

Indonesia’s Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced former agriculture minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo to 10 years in prison over graft charges on Thursday, according to local outlet The Jakarta Post. Judge Rianto Adam Pontoh said Limpo was fined and ordered to compensate 300 million rupiah and about 14.6 billion rupiah, respectively.

The court found Limpo guilty of misappropriating public funds, with Judge Rianto Adam Pontoh asserting that Limpo did not serve as a positive example of an official and acted contrary to the government’s efforts to fight corruption. The prosecution stated that Limpo extorted over 44 billion rupiah from the agriculture ministry’s officials to pay for his personal expenses. He allegedly spent the money on luxurious apartments, private jets, and donations to his political party.

Denying the wrongdoing, Limpo claimed that the verdict was a result of political persecution and public opinion manipulation. Limpo said that Muhammad Hatta and Kasdi Subagyono, two subordinates of his whom he ordered to collect the misappropriated funds, did not object to collecting the funds. Limpo said that both subordinates should have consulted him or spoken up before they collected the funds if they believed that it was inappropriate. Both Hatta and Subagyono were sentenced to four years in prison for their involvement in this case.

The court said Limpo faces an additional four-month prison sentence if he fails to pay the fine. Limpo has seven days to appeal his conviction.

Indonesia is currently ranked 115 out of 180 countries on the Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International, an NGO focused on tracking government corruption globally. Previously on November 22, 2023, Ade Safri Simanjuntak, Jakarta police’s director for special crime, affirmed the existence of “sufficient evidence” warranting the identification of Firli Bahuri, the Chairman of Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), as a suspect in an alleged extortion case involving Limpo. In addition, on October 2, 2013, the KPK arrested the chief justice of the country’s constitutional court for allegedly accepting over USD$250,000 in bribes. 

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