Jakarta. Susno Duadji, a former chief detective with the National Police convicted for his role in two graft cases, has been released on parole to allow him to reintegrate into society.

Susno, whose case made headlines on several occasions in recent years as he was long able to stay out of prison despite being convicted of corruption, served less than two years of his three-and-a-half year sentence.

“He’s already out,” Susno’s lawyer, Fredrich Yunadi, told the Jakarta Globe last weekend. “Already around three weeks ago [he was released].”

The retired three-star general was said to be residing in one of his homes, in the upscale Wijaya area of Kebayoran Baru in South Jakarta.

Susno himself was not immediately available for comment, but workers at his house confirmed that the former chief of the West Java Police had indeed been released from jail.

“He usually exercises in the morning, going for a walk. Already around a month now,” a male worker said, requesting his name be withheld.

The South Jakarta District Court convicted Susno of two counts of corruption in March 2011, sentencing him to three-and-a-half years in prison.

He was found guilty of misappropriating Rp 8 billion ($615,000) in security funds in 2008 for the West Java gubernatorial election when he served as chief of the provincial police force. He also accepted a Rp 500 million bribe to influence the outcome of a legal dispute over the ownership of a Riau fish farm in 2009.

Susno however filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court’s ruling but failed to issue an order to detain the convict. He was then able to remain free, arguing that police and prosecutors had no right to arrest him. The Constitutional Court later closed that loophole — ruling that prosecutors do not need a detention order to arrest convicted felons — but Susno remained a fugitive until he finally surrendered himself to authorities in May 2013.

Susno was ordered to pay a Rp 200 million fine and return Rp 4 billion to state coffers. He had been detained at Cibinong prison in Bogor, West Java.

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Source: The Jakarta Globe