Case Of Extortion Of Hotel Land Rental, 2 Gili Trawangan Residents Sentenced To 3 Years In Prison

JAKARTA - Two residents who live in the Gili Trawangan tourist area, North Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara were sentenced to 3 years in prison for being found guilty in a case of extortion with violence related to land leases for hotel buildings.

"Sentenced the defendant to 3 years in prison," said Chief Judge Glorious Agungndoro reading the verdict at the Mataram District Court, Friday, October 31.

The two defendants who were sentenced were Muhammad Aswin and H. Suriamin. The judge stated that the actions of the two defendants had fulfilled the criminal element in Article 368 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) 1st of the Criminal Code.

The criminal article relates to the criminal act of extortion with violence against the two defendants against foreign nationals (WNA) Brendan Edward Muir as the owner of a hotel building called Mymates Place.

The criminal decision stipulated was lower than the previous prosecutor's demand, which was 4 years in prison.

Regarding this decision, Hairul Anam as legal advisers to H. Suriamin and Muhammad Aswin have not yet expressed their position before the panel of judges.

In accordance with the provisions of the criminal procedural law, the two defendants were given a period of seven days after the verdict was read out to determine their position.

After the trial, Hairul Anam explained that he and his legal advisory team still had to discuss further the opportunity to file further legal action with his two clients.

However, Hairul believes that this decision is not in accordance with his client's actions. According to him, the request for money from foreigners Brendan Edward Muir was not a form of crime.

"So, there is a request for the rest of the bill (rental contract). The bill is in the contract," he said.

The agreement between his client and Brendan will last until 2035. The bill relates to renting land for Brendan's hotel which stands on the land of former PT Gili Trawangan Indah, an asset belonging to the NTB Provincial Government.

He explained, from the rental agreement, Brendan Edward Muir had only paid Rp. 210 million from the contract value of Rp. 700 million.

Because the complainant did not pay the rental bill according to the contract, his client took the initiative to put up a warning banner.

"Not the closure. Because the experts said that the banner installation could be qualified as a letter or subpoena," he said.

Launching the official website of the Mataram District Court, Brendan Edward Muir as the owner of the Mymates Place Hotel carried out a land lease contract for 20 years with the two defendants starting in 2015.

The rental contract value agreed was IDR 6.5 billion. Brendan has paid gradually up to IDR 2.45 billion.

However, in early 2022 the NTB Provincial Government will collect data and socialize. The goal is to urge investors not to carry out cooperation contracts with parties who have claimed the former GTI land belonging to the NTB Provincial Government.

Responding to that, Hairul Anam considered that local people had already been ahead of PT GTI, including his two clients.

"If there is an HGB, it will be handed over to the local government, not to foreigners," he said.