President Prabowo Criticized Light Sentences for Corruption Convicts

TheIndonesia.co - President Prabowo Subianto has criticized judges who grant light sentences to corruption convicts, especially when the potential state losses due to the corruption run into hundreds of trillions of rupiah.

Light sentences for corruption convicts hurt the people, he said. He then ordered the Attorney General's Office to file an appeal against light sentences in corruption cases.

"The people know that the corrupt have robbed hundreds of trillions of rupiah and how long the sentences are," he noted at the National Development Planning Conference in Jakarta on Monday, as quoted by Antara.

He emphasized that corruption convicts should be awarded heavy sentences.

"The sentence should be 50 years," he said.

He reminded Minister of Immigration and Corrections Agus Andrianto to ensure that corruption convicts are not given any conveniences in prison.

Prabowo also asked all ranks of government officials to work together to improve themselves.

"I am not blaming anyone. This is our collective mistake. Let us clean this up," he said.

When referring to light sentencing, Prabowo did not mention any specific case. However, in the last few days, public attention has been drawn to the light sentence given by the Corruption Criminal Court to Harvey Moeis, a convict in a corruption case related to tin trade management.

A panel of judges on December 23 declared Moeis guilty and sentenced him to six years and six months in prison. The prosecutors had demanded a 12-year jail term.

While reading the verdict, the panel of judges also stated that Moeis and other defendants in the case had caused state losses of up to Rp300 trillion (around US$18.5 billion).

Chief Judge Eko Aryanto said that Moeis was proven legally and convincingly guilty of committing corruption and money laundering. The prosecutor then filed an appeal with the higher court against the verdict.