Indonesian ex-minister gets 10 years' jail for US$900,000 corruption, spending state funds on lavish personal expenses

JAKARTA: An ex-minister has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for misappropriating more than 14.1 billion rupiah (US$900,000) of public money for his personal use. 

On Thursday (Jul 11), former Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo was found guilty by the Jakarta Corruption Court of spending public funds on personal expenses, including private jet travel and jewellery for his wife.

Syahrul was also fined 300 million rupiah, which if not paid, will be replaced by an additional prison sentence of four months, as well as US$30,000 in restitution, according to presiding judge Rianto Adam Pontoh, as quoted by local media.

Syahrul is the sixth member of current president Joko Widodo’s Cabinet to be sentenced to prison in a corruption case. 

After the hearing, Syahrul told reporters that the bribery case was a consequence of his job as a cabinet minister. 

“The 10-year prison sentence is not easy, but I’m proud that when I was still a minister, the Agriculture Ministry and the president received 71 awards,” he said, as quoted in the Jakarta Post. 

He also claimed that he had never used the money for personal use.

Between January 2020 and October 2023, Syharul had directed former Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture Kasdi Subagyono and former Director of Agricultural Equipment and Machinery at the Ministry Muhammad Hatta, along with several subordinates, to collect the money, which he considered as his 20 per cent share of the budget from each secretariat, directorate, and agency within the ministry.

The 69-year-old politician who was Agriculture Minister from 2019 to 2023, also threatened to transfer or terminate any subordinates who refused to comply with his orders. 

In delivering the verdict, Judge Rianto said that Syahrul was found guilty of ordering his officials at the Ministry of Agriculture to send him money from state coffers, some of which was used for his personal expenses.

"The defendant ... was legally and convincingly proven according to the law to be guilty of committing a criminal act of corruption," said Judge Rianto, as quoted by the Jakarta Post.

The court found Syahrul guilty of abusing his power as minister by ordering money to be given to him and then by using the money for his family's interests.

The total amount of money he and his family benefited from the misappropriated funds came to over 14.1 billion rupiah and an additional US$30,000.

In addition to the jail sentence, the court ordered the National Democratic (Nasdem) Party politician to pay restitution for the funds misused, failing which his assets would be seized by the court and he would face additional imprisonment. 

Prosecutors had initially sought a 12-year sentence and a US$31,000 fine for Syahrul, while his two ministry subordinates, Kasdi and Muhammad, were also sentenced to four years in jail and fined 200 million rupiah. Failure to pay the fine will result in an additional two months of imprisonment.

All the defendants have seven days to file an appeal.

Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) spokesperson Tessa Mahardhika Sugiarto expressed appreciation for the verdict. However, she said it remains open to possible appeal as the sentence was lower than what the prosecution had demanded.

Mdm Tessa said that the prosecutor would report the verdict to the KPK leaders. After that, they will determine the next step.

"In addition, the time will be used to appeal, or accept the verdict," he said.

CNN Indonesia also reported that Mdm Tessa said KPK would also investigate members of SYL’s family for money laundering allegations. 

FLOW OF FUNDS

According to the prosecution case, the total amount of money misused by Syahrul came to about 44.5 billion rupiah but the judge ruled that he should pay a lower restitution as funds misused were both categorised as for official and personal interests.

The judge explained that the official interests included activities for the benefit of the Ministry of Agriculture including hosting religious events, aeroplane charters for official working visits abroad, and providing assistance to victims of natural disasters. 

However, in addition to official purposes, there were also funds that Syahrul had used for personal interests.

According to local media reports, he had transferred some 860 million rupiah to Nasdem which was initially claimed as aid for victims of the Cianjur earthquake, which occurred in late 2022. 

It was later revealed during the trial that the funds were used for registering a candidate for the legislative election. The money has since been returned to the KPK.

Various lavish personal expenses financed by misappropriated state finances included maintaining an apartment in the Permata Hijau area, South Jakarta, purchasing a luxurious painting by prominent Indonesian artist Sujiwo Tejo, and paying instalments for an Alphard car in his city of origin, Makassar, South Sulawesi.

The misused money was also used to fund monthly allowances for his wife, personal credit card bills, the purchase of a Toyota Innova for one of his children, the operational costs for his official residence and other expenses including the circumcision rituals of his grandchildren, and skincare for his children and grandchildren.

The court was also told that the Agriculture Ministry was asked to collect some 1 billion rupiah of funds to finance his Umrah or minor religious pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. Syahrul also demanded money for the booking of sacrificial animals for the Korban ritual during the Eid Al-Adha religious festival which came to about 75 million rupiah in 2022. 

According to the court document, state funds were also used to pay for a singer and holiday allowances for five prominent parliamentary members of the House of Representatives.

Judge Rianto said that there was nothing that could mitigate the criminal actions of the defendant even after taking into account the distinction between official and unofficial facilities provided for a minister.

In his mitigation, the defendant spoke of his advanced age and the absence of any prior convictions against him. He also mentioned his positive contributions as Agriculture Minister during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the numerous awards he received from the Indonesian government.

The former minister was also noted for his polite demeanour during the trial.

However, the judge rejected the former minister’s plea, stating that his arguments and those of his legal team contradicted the facts presented during the trial. 

The judge also highlighted several aggravating factors, including Syahrul's convoluted testimony, his failure to set a good example as a public official, and his lack of support for the Indonesian government's anti-corruption efforts.