JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): The Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced former Papua governor Lukas Enembe (pic) to eight years in prison on Thursday (Oct 19) after being convicted of bribery pertaining to infrastructure projects in Papua.
“The judges also sentence the defendant with a Rp 500 million [US$31,563] fine,” presiding judge Rianto Adam Pontoh said during the verdict hearing.
Apart from the fine, Lukas was also ordered to pay a restitution fee of Rp 19.6 billion that he obtained from his crime. His political right to be elected for public office was also revoked for five years after finishing his prison term.
Among the aggravating factors mentioned by the panel of judges was Lukas’ repeated misconduct of swearing in the courtroom during the trial.
The sentence was lower than the prosecutors’ demands of 10.5 years imprisonment, a fine of Rp 1 billion and Rp 47.8 billion in restitution fees. Rianto said prosecutors included a plot of land obtained by Lukas long before he was elected as Papua governor, thus it could not be included in the calculation of the restitution figure.
The bench found the 56-year-old Lukas guilty of accepting Rp 17.7 billion in bribes and Rp 2 billion in gratuities during his tenure as governor between 2013 and 2022.
Judges argued that he violated the restrictions for civil servants and state officials from accepting unlawful gifts as mandated by the 2001 Corruption Law. Through his lawyers, Lukas said that he rejected the judges’ verdict.
“We will appeal immediately today,” said OC Kaligis, one of Lukas’ lawyers, in a statement on Thursday.
