TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The Jakarta High Court added more years to Gayus Halomoan Tambunan’s verdict in the case of corruption and money laundering. The appeal panel chaired by Yusran Thawab has sentenced the former tax official of the lower rank category to eight years in prison. According to spokesman Ahmad Sobari, the Jakarta High Court upheld the lower court’s decisions regarding the proven proposition, namely a corruption that was an independent joint combined action followed by money laundering. "But the six years' imprisonment was increased to eight years," Ahmad Sobari texted Tempo, Thursday, July 5, 2012. This verdict, read by the appeals panel on June 21, 2012, was the same as demanded by the prosecuting attorney. s for the rest, Ahmad continued, the appeals panel used the same considerations. Earlier, on March 1, the Corruption Court in Jakarta sentenced Gayus Tambunan to six years in prison. The first level of anti-graft court also sentenced to pay a fine of Rp1 billion or a four-month jail sentence if it is not paid. Gayus was convicted of four charges: corruption, bribery, money laundering and bribing prison officers at the Mobile Brigade Headquarters, Kelapa Dua, Depok. Ahmad explained that the appeals panel increased the sentence because what the defendant Gayus did could not be tolerated in society because he was profiting from tax revenues meant to improve public welfare. "In addition, he did it repeatedly," said Ahmad, also a judge of the case. According to him, the heavier verdict is also an effort to prevent civil servants from committing reprehensible acts. "It is a disgrace to society and a detriment to state revenues," he said. This is Gayus’ third case. In the first case, he was proven to have accepted bribes in the amount of Rp925 million from Roberto Santonius, a tax consultant, in connection with his handling of several companies’ lawsuits concerning their taxes. In this first case to appeal stage, he was sentenced to 12 years. The second case, Gayus received a two-year prison sentence in the Tangerang District Court in the case of passport forgery. SUKMA Loppies