TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The Corruption Eradication Commission’s (KPK) plan to confiscate wealth gained from graft practices in the bribery scandal involving Angelina Sondakh is a step forward. So far, prosecutors and the commission only apply criminal charges and fines against graft defendants. As a result, these perpetrators only serve a ‘lenient’ jail-term—and hurt the public’s sense of justice—and, also, these graft defendants are only fined a small amount of money compared to the amount they have stolen from the state. Angelina Sondakh was indicted for receiving a Rp35-billion bribe in the athletes’ village construction project in Palembang. If Angelina was charged with Article 12 of Law No. 31/1999 on Graft Practices, she may have faced a life sentence. However, there are also alternatives of a minimum sentence of four years and a maximum of 20 years. The problem lies in the fact that no corruptor has ever received the maximum sentence. Even if the maximum fine is applied, the amount only reaches Rp1 billion, less than 10 percent of the total amount of the stolen money. With such a situation it is no wonder that corruptors are never wary. Out of Rp35-billion in graft money, corruptors are only fined Rp1 billion. The jail term is a breeze as these corruptors have the opportunity to be free after serving a third of their time. The fact that there has never been any corruptor given a maximum jail-term has evidently left no one discouraged about stealing money from the state. On the other hand, if the additional Article 18 was applied in Angelina’s case, the bribe money from the Permai Group could have been confiscated if the judge granted the prosecutor’s request. The implementation of the additional article is expected to discourage corruptors from stealing money from the state. There is no guarantee that severe sentences will automatically put a slow-down on the current rampant graft practices. However, at least it means that the KPK has managed to take a bold step forward. Angelina will become the first defendant charged by the commission under the article. It is better to be late than to never apply the article at all because the KPK is, in fact, already lagging behind the police or prosecutors to ensure that corruptors face severe charges. The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has taken a leap by applying the Money Laundering Law on two taxmen: Bahasyim Assyifie and Dhana Widyatmika. The National Police Headquarters made the same bold move when indicting Gayus Tambunan. The law enabled the judge to order defendants to return the wealth they gained illegally during their time working as tax officers. The KPK will only begin to apply the Money Laundering Law against Muhammad Nazaruddin, a defendant in the athletes’ village case and Angelina’s colleague in the ruling Democrat Party. Corruption is also a crime related to money laundering. The law enables the application of full charges, not only the ones related to the graft status that got the defendant indicted in the first place. A more severe sentence is expected to give more power to the KPK in order to establish an institution that corruptors should be more fearful of. The public has had enough of seeing corruptors living large in prison, walking out after receiving multiple remissions and returning to society normally. Corruption is an extraordinary crime and the perpetrators should be punished with something that they fear the most: being bankrupt.