JakartaGlobe-Dec 6, 2021

Indonesian prosecutors made history on Monday by recommending a death sentence for a key defendant in a major corruption case at military insurer Asabri. Businessman Heru Hidayat is accused of misguiding the state-run insurer to bad investments for his personal gains and of laundering the ill-gotten money by re-investing in other assets. Prosecutors told the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court that Heru alone has inflicted a loss of Rp 12.6 trillion to Asabri. Asabri collects premiums by deducting 8 percent of the salary of soldiers, policemen, and civilian staffers at the Defense Ministry. Article 2 of the law stipulates that graft conviction can be punishable by death if the crime is committed when the country is under an emergency situation due to natural disaster or economic crisis, and/or it is a repeat crime. Prosecutors argued that Heru is a repeat offender, that he was earlier found guilty in a separate corruption case related to another state-owned insurance company, Jiwasraya. There are eight defendants in the Asabri trial — two of them were already sentenced to life in the Jiwasraya corruption scandal including Heru and renowned stockbroker Beny Tjokrosaputro. The Supreme Court has recently upheld the sentence. Read more at: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/indonesian-prosecutors-seek-firstever-death-sentence-in-graft-trial