Prosecutor demands 16-year sentence for Indonesia's former parliament speaker over corruption

JAKARTA, March 29 (Xinhua) -- A prosecutor at Indonesia's anti-corruption court on Thursday demanded a sentence of up to 16 years' imprisonment against former parliament speaker Setya Novanto over corruption.

He was accused of costing the state some 2.3 trillion rupiah (about 167.1 million U.S. dollars) while serving as a legislator.

"Recommending the judge to decide that Setya Novanto has convincingly committed collective corruption, sentencing him with 16-year imprisonment," the prosecutor in the court Abdul Basir said.

The prosecutor also recommended the judge to demand the former parliament speaker pay compensation over the case of 7.435 million U.S. dollars, after deducting the amount of money he had returned to the state which amounted to 5 billion rupiah (about 363,500 U.S. dollars).

The prosecutor demanded the fines be paid at least one month after the sentence is issued. If Setya fails to pay the fine, the prosecutor recommended the judge to give more sentences.

Setya was arrested by enforcers of anti-graft commission in November last year after his series of attempts to dodge the summons and arrest in relation to the case of corruption in national ID card project in 2011 to 2012.

The court has previously sentenced the contractor and some other former legislators involved in the case. The project contractor was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. He obtained the project from Setya through ill practices in the parliament.

Setya was stripped from this post as the parliament speaker shortly after being detained as a suspect in the corruption case. Enditem