Judge Rejects Pretrial Deputy Chair Of Padang DPRD Corruption Suspect, Dana Pikir

PADANG - The sole judge of the Class IA District Court of Padang, West Sumatra (West Sumatra) rejected the pretrial submitted by Ilham Maulana, a suspect in the alleged corruption case against the principal funds (pokir) of the Padang 2020 Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD).

"Declaring that he rejects all pretrial lawsuits submitted by the applicant," said the sole judge of the Padang Court, Khairuluddin, in the court's verdict, reported by Antara, Monday, June 20.

Ilham Maulana, who served as Deputy Chairman of the Padang DPRD, previously filed a pretrial against the Padang City Police on the status of a suspect who was determined by the police.

In the judge's consideration, it was stated that the determination of the suspect carried out by the Padang Police investigator was in accordance with the procedures and rules.

Responding to the decision, Ilham Maulana's legal adviser, Imra Leri Wahyuli Cs, said that his party was waiting for a copy of the court's decision and would discuss it with his client.

Head of the Padang Police Criminal Investigation Unit Kompol Dedy Adriansyah Putra welcomed the Padang District Court judge's decision.

"With the rejection of this pretrial, we will focus on the process of the alleged misappropriation of funds for the 2020 fiscal year," he said.

He explained that the case process is still in the investigation stage, and now investigators are trying to complete the case file to be immediately submitted to the prosecutor's office.

Previously, the case was an alleged misappropriation of the Padang DPRD Deputy Chairperson's money, which had been handled by the Padang Police since April 2021, starting from a public report.

The report stated that there was an alleged misappropriation of one of the legislators in the Padang DPRD, so that an investigation was carried out, until Ilham Maulana was named a suspect in May 2022.

The thought fund which was disbursed as aid in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic was a problem because it was suspected that it had not been disbursed properly to the recipients.

Ilham Maulana who was named a suspect did not accept it, then filed a pretrial against the Padang Police.

His party considered that there were several reasons that became the basis for submitting a pretrial, such as the lack of clarity on the mechanism of case investigation.

Investigators issued Notification Letters for the Commencement of Investigations (SPDP) on July 2, 2021 and May 9, 2022, causing uncertainty in the investigation of a criminal case.

In addition, the articles alleged in the two SPDPs are also considered different, where in the first letter the articles alleged are 8 Juncto (Jo) 15 of Law 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption.

Meanwhile, in the second SPDP issued on May 9, 2022, the alleged article is 12 letter e Jo article 8 of Law 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Corruption Crimes.

"We assess that there is an unclear mechanism in the investigation of the case and there is hesitation from the respondent (Polresta Padang) in applying the article," said Ilham Maulana's attorney when reading the pretrial application in the previous trial.

Ilham Maulana's party also assessed that the suspect status determined by the applicant was not based on sufficient preliminary evidence as stipulated in the Criminal Code.

Therefore, his party requested that the judge who heard the case declare the determination of the suspect against Ilham Maulana invalid.

However, now the pretrial application submitted by Ilham Maulana through his attorney has been rejected by the judge, and the determination of the suspect by the police has been declared according to procedure.