Al Amin Nasution received more than US$200,000 (S$292,631) from local authorities in return for helping push through the development of tropical forests on an island off Sumatra, judge Edward Pattinasarani told the court.

'The defendant has been proved legally and convincingly guilty of carrying out corruption and must be sentenced to eight years in jail and fined 250 million rupiah (US$23,250),' judge Pattinasarani said.

Nasution had received 325 million rupiah (US$35,425) and S$300,000 for the land deal in Bintan on the Riau Islands near Singapore, he said.

The eight-year sentence handed down by the court was seven years shorter than that demanded by prosecutors.

Outside the court room Nasution, from the Islamic United Development Party, told reporters he would appeal against the verdict.

The case is the latest under the anti-corruption drive of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who promised to stamp out corruption when he was elected in 2004.

However, the president has seen his own family caught up in the anti-graft campaign.

Former central bank deputy chief Aulia Pohan, the father-in-law of Yudhoyono's son, was arrested in November in a corruption case that has already led to a five-year sentence for former bank governor Burhanuddin Abdullah. -- AFP