Jakarta. The South Jakarta District Court on Tuesday convicted the founder of Muslim charity organization Aksi Cepat Tanggap (ACT) of embezzling at least Rp 117 billion ($7.8 million) of funds paid by US aircraft manufacturer Boeing as compensation for the families of victims of the 2018 Lion Air plane crash.

Ahyudin was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for embezzling a chunk of the Rp 138.5 billion funds channeled through the Boeing Community Investment Fund, which was intended for the family and community needs of those affected by the tragic accidents of Lion Air Flight 610.

The court said only around Rp 20.5 billion of the fund had been spent according to the wishes of the heirs of the plane crash victims, the court heard.

Prosecutors have recommended a prison sentence of four years for him.

Presiding Judge Hariyadi said that the defendant has “pleaded guilty, spoken frankly throughout hearings, and had no prior criminal record” as he cited the mitigating factors.

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The same court also handed a prison sentence of three years to former ACT chief executive officer Ibnu Khajar and former deputy CEO Hariyana Hermain for the same case, which has drawn public condemnation after reports emerged over fantastic salaries paid to ACT executives. 

Ahyudin was reportedly paid Rp 250 million per month, which he neither denied nor confirmed. Other executives were entitled to a monthly salary of between Rp 50 million and Rp 150 million.

The group managed Rp 540 billion of public funds, including Boeing’s compensatory fund, between 2018 and 2020.

The Boeing fund managed by ACT covers the heirs of 68 victims out of 189 people who died in the accident, according to the police investigation.

ACT has claimed that they channeled humanitarian assistance to Palestine and helped collect funds for the construction of a mosque in Australia.

The organization often visited disaster victims and advertised on social media websites to collect donations.