The Panel Of Judges Holds A Physical Examination Of The Location Of The Sriwijaya Grand Mosque Whose Budget Was Corrupted

PALEMBANG - The Panel of Judges for the Crime of Corruption at the Palembang District Court, South Sumatra (South Sumatra) held a physical examination of the construction of the Sriwijaya Grand Mosque at the location of Jalan H Bastari, 5 Ulu Village, Seberang Ulu 1 District, Palembang.

The examination is part of completing the case files of four defendants (Eddy Hermanto, Syarifuddin, Dwi Kridayani, and Yudi Arminto) in the alleged corruption case of the grant for the construction of the Sriwijaya Palembang Grand Mosque.

Head of the Legal Information Section of the South Sumatra High Prosecutor's Office (Kejati) Khaidirman said the panel of judges directly examined the physical condition of the mosque building and adjusted the land area limit of the mosque complex with data published by the South Sumatra National Land Agency (BPN).

In the examination process which lasted approximately one hour, the panel of judges was led by Judge Sahlan Efendi, consisting of Judge Abu Hanifa and Judge Waslam Maqsid.

Then accompanied by the Public Prosecutor (JPU) of the South Sumatra High Court along with their respective attorneys and BPN officers.

"It was held to directly ascertain the physical condition of the building, because in the previous trial the panel of judges only saw photos or documents related to this mosque," said Khaidirman, quoted by Antara, Friday, October 8.

From the results of this field trial, according to him, everything will become clear and it is hoped that it can be one of the references for the assembly to determine the legal construction of the four defendants.

"After jointly seeing the physical conditions on the field, it is hoped that everything will become clearer," said Khaidirman.

Based on the facts of the trial, on Tuesday, August 31, it was discovered that the ownership status of the land on which the Sriwijaya Grand Mosque was built was suspected to have been problematic since the construction process began.

Public Prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of South Sumatra Naimullah said that in 2015, the South Sumatra Provincial Government was sued by people who thought they had land rights at the location where the mosque was built, on Jalan H Bastari, 5 Ulu Village, Seberang Ulu 1 District, Palembang.

As a result, the community's lawsuit won at the level of the Supreme Court (MA), so that the community got legal force on the land.

"The land is disputed. It has been decided and won by the community," he said.

After being declared defeated by the lawsuit, the South Sumatra Provincial Government adopted a policy of implementing a compensation scheme for the community's land worth Rp. 13 billion.

However, based on the results of the examination conducted by the Public Prosecutor, it is known that until now the initiation of land compensation has not been fulfilled.

The chairman of the Sriwijaya Grand Mosque Waqf Foundation for the 2020 period, Zainal Effendi Berlian, who also testified at the trial, revealed that the Sriwijaya Grand Mosque construction design was in a complex with the Islamic center with an area of nine hectares out of a total of 15 hectares.

Of the nine hectares, after the South Sumatra Province BPN was re-measured, the land which is the right of the provincial government is only 2 hectares, while the rest belongs to the community.

"Even the BPK and the inspectorate came down to prove the legality of the land," he said.

According to him, the construction of the mosque, which is predicted to be the largest in Asia, had an initiation to be continued by the current South Sumatra Provincial Government.

However, because the land issue had not been resolved, then the South Sumatra Attorney General's Office investigators revealed indications of a criminal act of corruption, so the construction was delayed.

"Everyone hopes that this case can be completed soon, so that the construction of the pride of South Sumatra mosque can be continued," he said.