The already tainted reputation of Indonesia's parliament is being further tarnished, as a parade of former and current lawmakers are dragged before the courts on graft charges.
Former Golkar legislators Hamka Yandhu and Anthony Zeidra Abidin were sentenced to three years and 41/2 years respectively on Wednesday for receiving bribes in a 2004 Bank Indonesia corruption scandal.
The two were part of a commission overseeing financial and banking issues. All of the former members of the commission are now suspects in the scandal.
The verdicts by the anti-corruption court came two days after Al-Amin Nasution, a member of the Forestry Commission, was sentenced to eight years in prison in a separate trial for taking bribes in exchange for agreeing to turn over protected forests for other uses.
A legislator with the United Development Party, Nasution, was the first sitting member of the House of Representatives to be convicted of corruption. He could soon be joined by Democrat Party lawmaker Sarjan Tahir and National Awakening Party lawmaker Yusuf Erwin Faishal, who are also standing trial.
Many more are being targeted, including 41 current and former lawmakers who investigators say received money to confirm Miranda Goeltom as senior deputy governor of Bank Indonesia in 2004.
This case surfaced when Democratic Party of Struggle parliamentarian Agus Condro Prayitno confessed to having received 500 million rupiahs (HK$355,500).
