Last week’s conviction of former house speaker Setya Novanto has been hailed as a huge win in the fight against corruption in Indonesia, with the once “invincible” politician receiving a 15-year sentence for his role in the massive e-KTP (electronic ID card) graft case. But that victory came with an asterisk as observers waited to see whether or not the former Golkar chairman would choose to appeal the verdict, signaling a much more prolonged legal battle.
But it seems that Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) can now count this as a solid victory as Setya announced yesterday, through his lawyer, that he would not be appealing the verdict in his case.
“It’s true, he will not be appealing,” Setya’s lawyer, Firman Wijaya, told Detik yesterday, adding that the former house speaker and his family were weary of the case and wanted to step away from it (though, curiously, he also mentioned they would take some time to study the case clearly as well).
The KPK, which prosecuted the case against Setya, also announced that they would not be appealing the verdict. Prosecutors had demanded 16 years but said they were satisfied with the judge’s sentence, which also included orders to pay the state back USD7.3 million of the money he stole from the budget for the e-KTP project, on top of the 15-year sentence. The anti-corruption body said they wanted to instead focus their energies on other prosecutions in the e-KTP case.
With both sides having committed to not appealing the verdict, it is essentially final and legally binding. KPK officials said the sentence would be officially executed soon, probably within the week, after which Setya will be sent to Sukamiskin Prison in Bandung to carry out his sentence.
So why would Setya choose not to appeal? Well, as his lawyer said he may indeed just be tired after his long and fairly humiliating trial process. But that’s, of course, still not a great reason to accept a 15-year jail sentence sitting down. A better one is the fact that defendants who appeal their guilty verdicts in Indonesia face the possibility of not just having their appeals rejected but also having their sentences increased (which is believed to be one of the reasons that former Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama chose not to appeal his blasphemy conviction, for example).
There is also the possibility that Setya’s decision to not appeal this verdict could be due to concerns about other potential criminal charges (and verdicts) that he could yet face. The KPK, for example, have not yet charged the former house speaker with money laundering, though anti-corruption activists are still urging them to do so.
In fact, the former house speaker and his wife are testifying today as witnesses in the case of Fredrich Yunadi, Setya’s former lawyer, who is currently under trial on obstruction of justice charges for allegedly helping to engineer the infamous November car crash and subsequent trip to the hospital believed to have been his last-ditch effort to save Setya from being arrested by the KPK.
Setya is testifying in defense of Friedrich but could potentially see more charges directed his way should the lawyer be found guilty of acting under his orders, or were he to perjure himself during his testimony. Any way you slice it, Setya’s legal drama is still far from over.
