Five former Golkar legislators tried for accepting bribes

Ina Parlina, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 04/07/2011

Five former legislators, all members of the Golkar Party, on Thursday appeared in court on charges of accepting bribes in a high-profile vote-buying case linked to the central bank.

Asep Ruchimat Sudjana, Teuku Muhammad Nurlif, Baharuddin Aritonang, Reza Kamarullah and Hengky Baramuli allegedly accepted bribes paid for their votes of support for Miranda S. Goeltom to become the Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor in 2004.

In the indictment read out at the Corruption Court on Thursday, prosecutors for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said the five defendants had accepted bribes to influence their decisions, meaning they misused their authority as state officials.

“The five defendants individually and collectively accepted bribes in the form of travelers’ checks from Nunun Nurbaeti through Arie Malangjudo,” prosecutor Suwarji said.

The offense could see the five sentenced to up to five years in prison, as stipulated in the 1999 Law on Corruption.

After naming them suspects in September last year, the KPK detained Hengky Baramuli on Feb. 10 and the other four a week later.