Reluctant To Be Linked To The Asabri Case, This Company Refuses To Have Its Assets Confiscated And Auctioned Off By The Prosecutor's Office

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - PT Jampang Bahari Utama (PT JBU), a company engaged in ship transportation, has its assets confiscated by the Directorate of Investigation of the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) at the Attorney General's Office because it is suspected that the company belongs to the Asabri case suspect Heru Hidayat.

PT JBU's attorney, Haris Azhar, stated to the media, Tuesday, April 27, 2021, that PT JBU strongly rejects the confiscation and plans to auction off the ship belonging to the company by the Attorney General's Office.

"We have sent a letter of rejection of the confiscation of the client's company assets to the Attorney General, Jampidsus and the Head of the Asset Recovery Center, because the fact that the confiscated assets belonged to PT Jampang Bahari Utama which purely originated from company capital and business profits. The assets were not owned by Heru Hidayat, who Currently, he is a suspect in the PT ASABRI case. The asset also does not belong to PT Asabri and has absolutely nothing to do with PT Asabri, "explained Haris.

Furthermore, Haris also emphasized that the status of these items was being pledged as collateral to the bank. So that the confiscation by the Attorney General's Office investigators resulted in many parties being injured.

Moreover, according to him, these assets can still be managed properly by the company, and it is certain that their management will not interfere with the ongoing legal process. So, the prosecutor does not need to worry about the cost of maintaining these assets.

"What is very disadvantaged right now is the employees. Their income has dropped dramatically and there is no legal certainty when they can return to work. Losses on the confiscation of company assets have clearly worsened the economic conditions of employees who have been very depressed due to the pandemic," he said.

This human rights activist and former KontraS coordinator also emphasized that as an advocate and law-abiding citizen, he respects the law enforcement process that occurred in the PT Asabri case. However, do not let law enforcement destroy the interests of society.

"Assets that are included in the auction list are included in productive assets related to the livelihoods of a number of workers, the auction will actually kill the economic sustainability of the employees and the local community," he explained.

Therefore, Haris asked the Attorney General ST. Burhanudin moved and reminded his investigators to be more careful in carrying out confiscations, especially related to asset acquisition data.

"It should be underlined, all forms of confiscation must be closely related to human rights, and if any rights of the people of this country are taken away by the arbitrariness of the authorities, then I will stand at the forefront," he concluded.

Responding to this, Al Azhar University Criminal Law Expert Suparji Ahmad urged legal examination efforts related to the Asabri and Jiwasraya cases. Examination needs to be done to prevent abuse of authority by law enforcers.

"Examination needs to be done so that it can support law enforcement that is in accordance with legal provisions and is not counterproductive to economic activities," said Suparji.

"So that parties who clearly abuse their authority in the law enforcement process can be followed up and this will not happen again in the future," he added.

According to his press statement, the Head of the Attorney General's Legal Information Center, Leonard Eben Ezer Simanjuntak, on Thursday 11 March 2021 stated that the team of investigating prosecutors had physically confiscated the ship and put up signs or signs on 13 ships belonging to PT Jampang Bahari Utama which were assets owned by and or those related to the suspect Heru Hidayat.

The confiscated assets of the suspects will then be assessed or assessed by the Public Appraisal Service Office (KJPP) to be calculated as salvage of state financial losses in the next process.