DIY Prosecutor's Office Arrests Fugitive Cases Of Special Hajj Fraud, Victims Lose IDR 377 Million

YOGYAKARTA - The Fugitive Arrest Team (Tabur) of the Yogyakarta Special Region High Prosecutor's Office arrested a convicted person in a special hajj departure fraud case or plus Hajj, totaling Shintia Dewi (44), whose name has been on the wanted list (DPO) since 2021.

Head of Legal Information for the DIY Prosecutor's Office, Herwatan, said that the arrest of the DPO for the Hajj fraud case was on Wednesday (7/8) at his home, Jalan Sunan Gunung Jati, Sinduharjo, Ngaglik, Sleman Regency.

"When secured, the convict was sitting relaxed at his house, there was no resistance from the convict," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, August 8.

After a health check and declared healthy, koordinator who is the owner and Commissioner of PT Berkat Limpah Bersama who serves Hajj and Umrah organizers located in Sleman was immediately sent to the Class II B Sleman Penitentiary.

In the fraud case, the defendant totaled the offer to victim Yennie Agustien to go for a special/plus hajj in 2018 at a cost of Rp. 183 million.

The offer made the victim tempted because he was promised to leave immediately after the payment was paid off, so he decided to register for two people with his husband.

"The victim made payments for two people by displacing, either handed over directly to the defendant or via transfer to PT Berkat Limpah Bersama's account until April 18, 2018 amounting to Rp276 million," said Herwatan.

On August 12, 2018, the victim was called by the defendant's husband to ask for an additional Rp101,530,000.00 if the victim wanted to go for Hajj plus in 2018.

After reaching and transferring the additional money, the victim was promised by the defendant to leave for Hajj plus on August 16, 2018.

However, until the promised date arrived, the defendant's husband informed the victim that there was an cancellation of the special pilgrimage departure because the visa was not approved by the Saudi Arabian state.

Because of the cancellation, the defendantbulge promised to return the victim's entire money without any deductions within 14 days.

"However, in reality, until now the defendant has never returned the money to the victim," said Herwatan.

The money that has been received from the victim in total of Rp. 377,530,000.00 has been used up for the defendant's personal interests.

In the trial of the case, the public prosecutor (JPU) charged him with guilt for committing a criminal act of fraud as regulated and threatened with crime in accordance with Article 378 of the Criminal Code and sentenced him to 2 years in prison.

Based on the prosecutor's demands, then on November 9, 2020, the panel of judges at the Sleman District Court decided that the defendant was legally and convincingly proven guilty of committing a criminal act of fraud and sentenced him to 1 year and 8 months in prison.

The appeal at the Yogyakarta High Court actually increased the defendant's prison sentence to 2 years. Likewise, the appeal of the two was rejected by the Supreme Court.

After the cassation decision was received and the prosecutor was about to execute the defendant nightly, it turned out that he was not at his house, Banyumanik, Semarang City, Central Java as stated in the indictment.