By Aloysius Unditu
Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia's anti-corruption court sentenced Burhanuddin Abdullah, a former central bank governor, to five years in prison and ordered him to pay a 250 million rupiah ($22,524) fine for his role in the misuse of state funds.
Abdullah, 60, was accused of illegally transferring funds to Indonesian lawmakers, judge Gusrizal said in a judgement in Jakarta today. Under Indonesian law a loss to the state is construed as corruption.
Abdullah is the second successive central bank governor to be convicted of corruption as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono tries to weed out graft in the Southeast Asian nation. Abdullah denied any wrong doing and said he will appeal. Abdullah's predecessor, Sjahril Sabirin, in 2002 successfully appealed a conviction related to an alleged misuse of state funds, a year before his term ended.
``The judges said I was involved in a corruption case, but not a single cent or rupiah has gone into my pocket,'' Abdullah told reporters after the presiding judge announced the ruling.
Indonesia's anti-corruption commission agency, known as Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi, or KPK, detained Abdullah in April.
Indonesia ranks 126th with a score of 2.6 in Transparency International's latest corruption-perception index. Denmark came out on top with a score of 9.3.
Abdullah, Indonesia's central bank governor from May 2003 until May 2008, was the top economics minister for a few months in 2001 under former President Abdurrahman Wahid. He was a central bank deputy governor between August 2000 and June 2001. He completed his master's degree in economics at Michigan State University in 1984.
To contact the reporter on this story: Aloysius Unditu in Jakarta at aunditu@bloomberg.net
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