Former Indonesian speaker jailed for 15 years on corruption charges

Reuters - An Indonesian court on Tuesday jailed a former speaker of parliament for 15 years for his role in causing state losses of around $170 million linked to a national electronic identity card scheme. Novanto would be barred from holding public office for five years after serving his sentence and have to repay $7.3 million. In a session that ran for more than three hours, judges read out dozens of case notes, including descriptions of where the former speaker held meetings to divvy up cash made from a mark-up on a contract for the identity card. Novanto showed little emotion as the judge read the verdict. After a quick consultation with his legal team, he told the court he would take time to consider whether to appeal against the sentence. Novanto was accused of orchestrating a scheme to steal $173 million, or almost 40 percent of the entire budget for a government contract for the national identity card. Prosecutors, who had questioned 80 witnesses in the case, had sought a jail term of at least 16 years.