The Sentence Of Former Supreme Court Official Zarof Ricar Is Increased To 18 Years In Prison

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta High Court (PT) has increased the sentence of former Supreme Court (MA) official Zarof Ricar to 18 years in prison in an appeal decision related to cases of alleged bribery and gratification.

Chief Judge Albertina Ho conveyed that the Panel of Judges of the High Court was of the opinion that the legal considerations of the First Level Panel of Judges in its decision were based on the right and right reasons, so that it was used as legal consideration for his party in deciding cases at the appeal level, except regarding the length of the sentence and the status of evidence.

"The panel of judges at the High Court is of the opinion that the criminal act committed by Defendant Zarof has made people prejudiced against judges in Indonesia, as if the judges are easily bribed, easily regulated according to the wishes of people who have money to distort justice," said the presiding judge in a copy of the verdict quoted by ANTARA, Friday, July 25.

Even so, in relation to the criminal fine, the Jakarta High Court Panel of Judges still charges the same amount as the decision of the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor), which is Rp1 billion, provided that if it is not paid, it will be replaced (subsider) with 6 months imprisonment.

Likewise, Rp915 billion and 51 kilograms of gold confiscated from Zarof were still confiscated for the state.

The presiding judge emphasized that Zarof had been legally and convincingly proven guilty of committing a criminal act of corruption in the form of conspiracy to commit a criminal act of corruption, namely giving or promising something to the judge with the intention of influencing the decision of the case submitted to him to be tried and the criminal act of accepting gratuities related to his position and contrary to his obligations or duties.

Therefore, Zarof was still found guilty of violating Article 6 paragraph (1) letter a and Article 12 B in conjunction with Article 15 jo. Article 18 of Law (UU) Number 31 of 1999 concerning Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended and supplemented by Law Number 20 of 2001.

Previously, Zarof Ricar was sentenced by the Panel of Judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court to 16 years in prison and a fine of Rp. 1 billion, subsidiary to 6 months in prison in this case, slightly lighter than the demands for imprisonment by the public prosecutor, which is 20 years in prison, even though the amount of the fine remains the same as the demands.

In this case, Zarof was charged with committing an evil conspiracy in the form of assistance to give or promise judges something, namely money worth IDR 5 billion.