TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) conveyed its disappointment on the 15-year prison sentence granted to Setya Novanto in the electronic Id card (e-KTP) graft case. ICW argued that the judge should have handed Setya a life imprisonment.

“It’s appropriate that Setya Novanto is given the most severe prison sentence since he was not cooperative throughout the legal proceedings,” said ICW monitoring and legal division coordinator Tama S. Langkun in a press release today, April 25.

The panel of Judges at Jakarta corruption court declared that Setya Novanto is guilty in the e-KTP graft case. Setya is sentenced to 15 years imprisonment with an additional Rp500 million fine subsidiary of three months prison sentence.

Read: Setya Novanto Stripped off of Political Rights for Five Years

Setya is also mandated to return the state loss valued at US$7.3 million reduced by the five billion rupiah that he had returned to the state. He is also stripped off of his political rights for five years after serving his sentence.

Tama said that ICW is not the only one that is disappointed by the verdict. A poll conducted by the institution show 56 percent of participants were dissatisfied by the judges' verdict toward Setya Novanto.

“As much as 7 percent of the participants agreed that Setya Novanto should be given the life sentence,” said Tama.

M Rosseno Aji