Dhana sentenced to 7 years in prison

JAKARTA. The Jakarta Corruption Court on Friday handed down a seven-year prison term for tax official Dhana Widyatmika for bribery and money laundering in a scandal that involved two companies, PT Kornet Trans Utama (KTU) and PT Mutiara Virgo.

Presiding judge Sudjatmiko said during the verdict that Dhana was guilty of violating the 1999 Corruption Law Article 12 on bribery and Article 3 of Law No. 8/2010 on money laundering.

Dhana was also obliged to pay Rp 300 million (US$31,144) in fines or spend an additional three months in prison.

The sentence was lower than the 12-year prison term sought by the prosecutors.

Dhana’s lawyer, Luthfie Hakim, said that he would file an appeal against the verdict.

Dhana and his colleague, Salman Maghfiron, were guilty of causing Rp 1.28 billion in state losses, Rp 967 million in unpaid taxes of the two companies and Rp 242 million in interest.

Dhana also accepted Rp 2.75 billion in kickbacks from PT Mutiara Virgo between January 2006 and October 2010. (The Jakarta Post)