Padang-Sicincin Toll Corruption Suspect Files Objection To Detention

The legal adviser for the three suspects, Poniman, after submitting a letter of objection to the continued detention of his client to the West Sumatra Prosecutor's Office, Tuesday (15/2/2022). ANTARA/FathulAbdi

PADANG - Three suspects in the alleged corruption case in the land acquisition of the Padang-Sicincin Toll Road, West Sumatra (West Sumatra) filed an objection to the further detention carried out by the West Sumatra High Prosecutor's Office in the current investigation stage.

The objections to the continued detention were submitted by three suspects with the initials Na, AH, and SB to the West Sumatra Attorney General's Office in Padang through their legal advisor Poniman Cs.

"Today we filed an objection to the continued detention by the prosecutor's office of three of our clients, on the basis of the rules in accordance with Article 123 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code," said Poniman, in Padang, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, February 15.

He explained that according to the provisions of Article 123 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the family, legal advisors and suspects have the right to file objections to investigators who make detentions.

Formally, the reason the suspect filed an objection is because until now he has never received a letter of determination regarding continued detention.

"Meanwhile, what we read contained an order from the Head of the Corruption Court which clearly stated that a copy (of the letter) must be submitted to the family," he said.

Meanwhile, for material reasons, he said, the reason for the investigators' detention was because the investigation had not yet been completed. Meanwhile, the case process has been going on for a long time.

"Our client's rights as citizens also exist, we need to know what is the basis for extending the detention," he continued.

In fact, he said, the process has been going on for a long time starting from the investigation, investigation, to finally determining the suspect.

"With this, we think that the Prosecutor's Office should have pocketed strong evidence, so why should it be dragged on. It should be transferred to the court immediately," he said.

Poniman also explained that the three suspects who were his clients were elderly, even one of them with the initials AH was in a sick condition. So it is considered impossible to eliminate evidence, escape, or do his actions again as the reason for the detention of a suspect.

Poniman said that the detention of his client had been carried out from January 30 to February 28, 2022.

"So far our client has acted cooperatively, nor has he taken the pretrial route. We have only raised an objection to the continuation of this detention," he said.

He said that after submitting the objection letter, his party would wait for a reply from the Attorney General's Office for three days after the letter was given, if there was no response, he would take other legal steps and send a letter to the Attorney General's Office.

Meanwhile, Head of the Legal Information Section of the West Sumatra Prosecutor's Office, Fifin Suhendra, said his party had received the objection letter and would forward it to the leadership.

He emphasized that the West Sumatra Prosecutor's Office was processing the case of alleged corruption which was estimated to have caused a loss of up to IDR 28 billion and had been carried out according to the rules and regulations. Starting from the investigation, investigation, to the determination of 13 people as suspects according to the evidence possessed by investigators.

"So it's not true (the delay) is, the process continues. Now we are waiting for the results of the calculation of state financial losses from the auditor agency," he said.

Meanwhile, for health reasons, the Attorney General's Office emphasized that before detaining the suspect, his party had checked his health, and the detention center also had health facilities.