Eight More Years for Sitorus for Money Laundering

Jayapura, Papua (Antara) - The high court of Papua quadrupled the jail term of a low rank police officer to 8 years after the court found him guilty also of money laundering. The Sorong district corruption court punished First insp. Labora Sitorus in February with a two years' imprisonment with a fine of Rp50 million but the court cleared him of money laundering charge. Head of the Papua High Court Arwan Dyrin, however, told Antara news agency on May 2 , Labora was also found guilty of money laundering. The high court then decided to give an 8 years jail term with a Rp50 million fine or an additional jail term of 6 months for Labora. Meanwhile, head of the Papua high prosecution office Maruli Hutagalung said his office would appeal on the verdict of the Papua High Court on Labora Sitorus. "The prosecutors are preparing the dossiers for the appeal to the supreme court," Maruli Hutagalung said . Observers criticized the law enforcers in Papua for failing to name more suspects in the Labora case. "It was impossible for a low rank officer to run his business for years without protection from his superiors," they said. (*)