Jakarta, Jul 11 (IANS): An Indonesian court on Thursday sentenced the country's former agriculture minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo to 10 years in jail for corruption.

Limpo, a politician of the Nasdem Party, was found guilty of accepting more than 44 billion Indonesian Rupiah (about 2.7 million US dollars) in bribes from 2020 to 2023 while in office, reports Xinhua news agency.

The 69-year-old shall also pay a fine of 300 million Indonesian rupiahs (about 18,500 US dollars) as a substitute of another four-month imprisonment should he fail to pay, the chairman of the panel of judges, Rianto Adam Pontoh said, reading out the verdict at the Jakarta Corruption Court.

The former minister committed corruption along with his two subordinates, the ministry's former Secretary General Kasdi Subagyono and former Director of Agricultural Equipment and Machinery Muhammad Hatta.

The two ex-officials, who gathered money from different departments within the ministry, were each sentenced to four years on Thursday.