Indonesian speaker guilty of graft

Mr Tandjung (left) denies any wrongdoing

Indonesian parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung has been found guilty of misusing millions of dollars of state funds.

A court in central Jakarta sentenced Tandjung, who is also leader of the former ruling Golkar party, to three years in prison.

The defendant has damaged the government's credibility... and caused suffering for the poor

Amiruddin Zakaria, presiding judge

State prosecutors had called for Tandjung to be jailed for four years, although that was still far below the maximum 20-year penalty for abuse of power and corruption.

The Speaker was convicted of diverting $4.5m of government funds while he was a cabinet secretary which were intended to pay for food packages for victims of the 1998 Asian financial collapse.

The politician denies the allegations that the funds were instead used by the Golkar party for its election campaign in 1999.

The court took eight hours to read the testimonies and give their assessment of the case.

Appeal

Two co-defendants, Dadang Sukandar and Winfried Simatupang, who ran the foundation responsible for distributing the food aid, were also both sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The BBC's correspondent in Indonesia, Richard Galpin, said that Tandjung, who alternated between muttering prayers to himself and sleeping during the hearing, immediately consulted with his lawyers when the verdict was given.

There were scuffles between Tandjung's supporters and critics

One of Tandjung's lawyers said his client would appeal, as was expected.

He will be able to appeal to the High Court and then the Supreme Court, and he will remain a free man until the results of his appeal. This could keep him out of prison for months or even years.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri does not want to undermine her coalition government, in which Golkar plays an important role, ahead of general elections in 2004.

Many political commentators had expected an even more lenient sentence.

Our correspondent nevertheless says the speaker got off lightly - he received less than the minimum recommended sentence for corruption.

Mitigating factors

Judge Amiruddin Zakaria said there were a number of mitigating circumstances, including the defendant's co-operation with the court and his lack of previous convictions.

He also said that the fact that the diverted money was retrieved just before the trial began helped Tandjung's case.

A co-defendant mysteriously claimed that he had found it in a filing cabinet in his bedroom.

The public still does not know for sure what happened to the diverted funds. The court did not consider it relevant to investigate.

The case has been viewed as another test of the country's judiciary, which has been described by the United Nations as one of the worst in the world.