WNA Swiss Convicted of Exploiting Gili Trawangan Water Escaped Abroad
JAKARTA - The Swiss foreign citizen (WNA) who has the status of a convicted person in the case of the exploitation of water resources in Gili Trawangan, North Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), William John Matheson, fled abroad.
The Attorney General's Office learned of this information during the execution of the cassation decision of the Supreme Court dated July 22, 2025 which stated that it rejected the cassation application from the defendant and the public prosecutor.
"Yes, William fled abroad," said Head of the General Criminal Section of the Mataram District Attorney's Office, I Nyoman Sugiartha, via a short message on the WhatsApp application, Tuesday.
He said the prosecutor's office followed up on information that the Director of PT Berkah Air Laut (BAL) had fled abroad by carrying out a ban.
"I have conveyed it to the intelligence. Yesterday he said he had checked. So, we have made a note of disposition to the intelligence for detention," he said.
Regarding the two convicts, namely Samsul Hadi, Sugiartha said that his party had carried out the execution of the verdict by imprisoning the former Director of PT Gerbang NTB Emas (GNE), the NTB Regional Company, at the West Lombok Class IIA Prison.
"Samsul has (executed)," he said.
Referring to the cassation decision which was rejected by the Supreme Court judge, the prosecutor carried out the execution based on the appeal decision at the NTB High Court.
In the appeal decision dated December 19, 2024, the panel of judges at the NTB High Court upheld the first instance court's decision to impose a 1-year prison sentence with a fine of Rp1 billion, subject to 3 months of substitute imprisonment.
The prosecutor's office previously stated that the first-instance court's verdict was quite low. This is the basis for the submission of a further legal action at the appeal level.
The prosecutor also compared the burden of the verdict with the impact caused and the receipt of profits of up to billions of rupiah from the management of the unlicensed boreholes. According to the prosecutor, the country has received quite a lot of losses so that the verdict is considered not commensurate.
The panel of judges, consisting of presiding judge Lalu Moh. Sandi Iramaya together with members Isrin Surya Kurniasih and Ida Ayu Masyuni, at that time stated that the actions of the two defendants were proven to have violated the third indictment of the public prosecutor regarding Article 70 letter d in conjunction with Article 49 paragraph (2) and paragraph (1) of Law Number 6/2023 concerning the Determination of Government Regulation to Replace Law Number 2/2022 concerning Job Creation.
The panel of judges in the ruling also stipulated that the two should remain in the status of city detainees. This status changed from prison detainees to city when the two applied for it on the grounds of illness at the beginning of the trial.
For the evidence seized in the form of two of the three points of groundwater drilling locations in the Gili Trawangan area, it was requested to be confiscated by the state.
Including confiscating all supporting facilities for operational activities from unauthorized drilling activities.
The judge in the ruling stated that Matheson was proven to have committed a crime by deliberately providing clean water without a permit in the period from November 2019 to October 2022.
Regarding Hadi, the judge stated that the defendant's actions as the director of the NTB BUMD had been proven to have committed a criminal act by deliberately giving Matheson as the director of PT BAL the opportunity to carry out business without having a valid business permit in accordance with government regulations.