An Indonesian court on Tuesday sentenced the former speaker of parliament, Setya Novanto, to 15 years in jail for his role in causing state losses of around $170 million, linked to a national electronic identity card scheme. The case has shocked Indonesians, already used to large corruption scandals and has reinforced a widely held perception that their parliament, long regarded as riddled with corruption, is a failing institution. "The defendant is found guilty of conspiring to commit corruption and is sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined 500 million rupiah," Yanto, the head of a panel of five judges, told the Jakarta court. After a quick consultation with his legal team, he told the court he would take some time to consider whether to appeal the sentence. Prosecutors, who had questioned 80 witnesses in the case, had sought a jail term of at least 16 years for the former speaker.

Source: dna April 24, 2018 13:29 UTC