Court Jails Former Ministry Officials in e-KTP Graft Case
Jakarta. Former Home Ministry officials Irman and Sugiharto were sentenced by the Jakarta Corruption Court to seven and five years in prison on Thursday (20/07) in a graft case involving embezzlement of nearly half of the Rp 5.9 trillion ($443 million) budget for the national electronic identity cards, or e-KTP, project.
"Irman and Sugiharto have been found guilty of corruption," said John Halasan Butar-Butar, head of the panel of judges.
The court also ordered Irman to pay a Rp 500 million fine and Sugiharto to pay Rp 400 million.
The sentence meets the demands of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors.
Latest Suspects
On Wednesday, KPK investigators announced another suspect — Golkar Party lawmaker Markus Nari, member of House Commission II, which oversees home affairs.
Markus allegedly asked Rp 5 billion from Irman in 2012 to guarantee the House's approval to add another Rp 1.5 trillion to the project's budget.
"Reportedly, Rp 4 billion was handed to M.N.," KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah said.
In late May, another lawmaker, Miryam Haryani of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), was named a suspect in the same case.
On Monday, House Speaker Setya Novanto joined the list of the e-KTP graft suspects, charged with receiving around Rp 575 billion.
Setya has denied the charges against him.
Investigations into the case have been ongoing since late 2015, five years after the project commenced under the Home Ministry. The case caused Rp 2.3 trillion state losses.
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