While last month’s guilty verdict and 15-year sentence for former house speaker Setya Novanto was hailed as a landmark victory in Indonesia’s fight against endemic corruption, there is clearly still tons of work that needs to be done in terms of how the government handles corrupt politician, as evidenced by the latest outrageous story of a law-breaking lawmaker still enjoying the perks of his former job in prison.
Mustagfir Sabri, a former member of the Makassar Regional Representatives Council (DPRD) was sentenced to 5 years in prison by the Supreme Court in 2016 on graft charges, but it recently came to light that he was still being paid his DPRD salary of IDR37 million (US$2,635) per month until now.
According to Adi Awan, Makassar’s regional secretary, the reason that Mustagfir was still drawing a salary from behind bars is due to a clerical error on the part of the Supreme Court. Adi said the Makassar government had not yet received a copy of the court’s decision and therefore did not have a justification for officially firing Mustagfir.
Seriously.
“Yes, [Mustagfir is still getting paid] because there is no basis to stop his salary but we have written to the Makassar district attorney to see whether there is already a copy of the Supreme Court’s decision,” Adwi said today as quoted by Detik.
Adwi also said that Mustagfir is still officially registered as a member of Parliament in Makassar because the party he belonged to, Hanura, had never officially filed a letter of recall (PAW).
As news that Mustagfir was still receiving his salary was only revealed recently, it is not yet clear what, if any, legal actions will be taken against him or any other party related to his continued payment, or whether he will be allowed to keep his in-prison salary payments.
