JAKARTA (Indonesia): Indonesia’s former Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi was found guilty of corruption on Monday and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment.
The judge panel at the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court also ordered Imam to repay Rp 18 billion ($1.3 million) in damages within a month, or his jail term will be added by another two years.
The panel also scrapped his rights to be elected as public official for four years, effective after he completes his jail term.
The tough sentencing, however, is below the prosecutors’ demand of 10 years in jail and a fine of Rp 19 billion.
In 2014, another former sports minister, Andi Mallarangeng, was sentenced to four years in jail in a corruption case linked to the construction of a sports complex in West Java province.
He was released in 2017.
Last month, Indonesian badminton legend Taufik Hidayat claimed the sports ministry was full of corrupt “rats”, and that it was common for officials to embezzle funds through sports programmes.
Imam and his close aide Miftahul Ulum were convicted of accepting Rp 11.5 billion in bribes to approve a grant proposal submitted by the Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI).
Both men were also proven guilty of taking illegal payments from various sources totaling Rp 18 billion.
