Bogor Regent Ade Yasin could not hold back her tears throughout her final hearing for bribery at the Bandung District Court today, during which she was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment.
Ade was found guilty of bribing auditors from the West Java office of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to the tune of IDR1.935 billion (US$128,691) between October 2021 and April 2022. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested the public official in April.
The court heard that Ade bribed the auditors to issue a favorable financial report for her administration, which governs a regency with a population of more than 1 million situated on the outskirts of Jakarta.
Ade’s four-year sentence is heavier than the three years demanded by KPK prosecutors. In addition, the court handed Ade a fine of IDR100 million (US$6,650) in lieu of six months in prison, and has stripped her off of her right to run for public office for five years after her release.
Hundreds of Ade’s supporters who came out to support her for the hearing were distraught upon hearing the sentence.
Corruption seems to run in Ade’s family. The convict, who came into office in 2018, is the sister of former Bogor Regent Rahmat Yasin, who is currently serving his two year and eight month sentence for bribery, which was handed down in 2021.
Amazingly, Rahmat had only left prison in May 2019 after he was sentenced to five years and six months for misappropriating the region’s budget for his election campaign in 2014.
