FORMER ENVOY GETS 30 MONTHS JAIL

By Mohd Nasir Yusoff

JAKARTA, Jan 3 (Bernama) -- The Corruption Court here has sentenced former Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia Hadi A. Wayarabi to 30 months in jail for corruption in the collection of immigration document fees, Antara news agency reported.

Hadi was found guilty of involvement in the collection of illegal fees from Indonesians needing immigration documents at the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur during the 2000-2003 period, causing the country to lose 15 billion rupiah (RM1 = 2,863 rupiah).

Presiding judge Mansyurdin Chaniago said Hadi, along with Suparba W. Amiarsa, former head of the immigration section at the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, had committed corruption by failing to pass on non-tax state revenue, from the issuance of immigration documents, to the state treasury.

The court also ordered them to pay a fine of 150 million rupiah or spend five more months in jail.

Hadi was also obliged to pay 1.750 billion rupiah or spend two more years in jail if he could not deliver the money within a month after his sentencing.

Suparba, meanwhile, had to pay 15 million rupiah to the state or remain in jail for six more months if he could not pay the amount within one month after his sentencing.

The judge said that Hadi had received 1.8 billion rupiah from the immigration document fees during his ambassadorial posting.

He said the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur only handed RM120 instead of RM140 from the fee for the issuance of every 48-page passport while for a 24-page passport, the embassy only handed RM30 instead of RM65 asked and RM45 instead of RM80 for the family passport.

The total amount of non-tax revenue which was not handed to the government reached RM369,105.