Sidang Pengurusan Perkara MA, Saksi Nilai Awal Gazalba Saleh "Lurus" Lama-lama Langkahnya Aneh

JAKARTA - The witness in the alleged corruption case related to the handling of the case at the Supreme Court (MA), Prasetyo Nugroho, assessed that the inactive Supreme Court Judge Gazalba Saleh at first seemed to be "smooth" as the supreme judge, but had been acting strange for a long time.

Prasetyo as a former Gazalba assistant said the assessment was based on personal opinion at first glance while being Gazalba's assistant.

"This is my heart. I chatted with friends like that," said Prasetyo during the trial of examining witnesses at the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor), Thursday, July 18, which was confiscated by Antara.

Meanwhile, when he deepened his considerations regarding such Gazalba, Prasetyo did not explain further.

He also said that he did not chat much casually with Gazalba about things outside of work, so he only interacted a lot about work.

He revealed that before serving as Supreme Court justice in the criminal chamber, Gazalba was an ad hoc judge in the regional court. Before becoming a judge, Gazalba worked as a lecturer.

Prasetyo testified in the alleged corruption case related to the handling of the case in the Supreme Court with the defendant Gazalba.

In this case, Gazalba was charged with receiving gratuities and committing money laundering (TPPU) with a total value of Rp62.89 billion related to the handling of cases in the Supreme Court.

The allegation of receipts includes gratuities worth Rp. 650 million and money laundering offenses consisting of 18,000 Singapore dollars (Rp. 216.98 million), Rp. 37 billion, 1.13 million Singapore dollars (Rp. 13.59 billion), 181,100 US dollars (Rp. 2 billion), and Rp. 9.43 billion for the period 2020-2022.

Gratification given to Gazalba is related to the case of cassation of the Logam Jaya Dagang Business Owner (UD) Jawahirul Fuad who experienced legal problems related to the management of B3 waste without a permit in 2017.

The gratuity money was received by Gazalba together with lawyer Ahmad Riyadh as a liaison between Jawahirul and Gazalba in 2022 after the pronouncement of the case decision, in which Gazalba received Rp200 million and Ahmad Riyadh received Rp450 million, bringing the total gratuity received by both of them amounting to Rp650 million.

Furthermore, the money from the gratuity along with the money from other receipts received by Gazalba was used as funds to conduct money laundering offenses together with the defendant's older brother, Edy Ilham Sholeh and a close friend of the defendant, Fify Mulyani.

Thus, Gazalba's actions are threatened with criminal penalties in Article 12 B in conjunction with Article 18 of Law (UU) Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001 and Article 3 of Law Number 8 of 2010 concerning the Prevention and Eradication of the Crime of Money Laundering jo. Article 55 paragraph (1) 1st of the Criminal Code jo. Article 65 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code.