Free Sentence Of 3 Defendants Of Corruption In The Fire Social Assistance In Bima NTB, Prosecutors Prepare Cassation

The archive of photos-of-the-victim corruption in cutting fire social assistance funds in Bima Regency Andi Sirajudin (left) moved out of the courtroom with legal/ANTARA advisors.

Head of the West Nusa Tenggara High Prosecutor's Office, Nanang Ibrahim Soleh, said that the public prosecutor prepared cassation legal remedies related to the acquittal of three defendants of corruption in cutting social assistance funds (bansos) for fires for affected residents in Bima Regency. "If it is free, it must be cassation. So, there are still legal remedies," said Nanang in Mataram, quoted from Antara, Tuesday, April 18. Regarding further legal remedies, he said, it was also strengthened by the statement of representatives of the public prosecutor team from the Bima Septian District Attorney's Office, Heri Saputra. "What is clear is that regarding this acquittal, we have declared an appeal," said Heri. He said that in the decision of the panel of judges for the three defendants, there were a number of facts about the trial that were not included as consideration. One of these facts, he explained, relates to the absence of an accountability letter for the disbursement of the first phase of social assistance funds which is a condition for the second phase of disbursement. "So, if there are no conditions, the second stage of the funds cannot be disbursed. However, in fact, all funds have been disbursed without an accountability letter for the first phase of disbursement. That is in the facts of the trial," he said. However, Heri said that the public prosecutor must fully see the decisions belonging to the three defendants. Heri said this was part of the preparation of the cassation legal action. "So, it must be ensured from a complete decision. That's what we are waiting for," he said. Meanwhile, Abdul Hanan, who is the legal adviser to the defendant Andi Sirajudin, former Head of the Bima Regency Social Service, said that his party invited the public prosecutor to take legal action. "For that (an appeal), we leave it to the prosecutor because it is part of the legal process," said Hanan. The three defendants who received acquittal from the Mataram Corruption Court Panel of Judges were Andi Sirajudin and Ismud, the former Head of Social Protection and Security Division (Linjamsos) of the Bima Ismud District Social Service, and Sukardin who acted as assistants to the distribution of social assistance funds. The composition of the panel of judges who acquitted the three defendants was Mukhlasuddin as the presiding judge with members Mahyudin Igo and Fadhli Hanra. The judge in the verdict, Monday (17/4), stated that there was no finding of any facts related to evidence that the three defendants received money from cutting fire social assistance funds. The judge also considered the Rp105 million as a form of sincerity for the recipients to the service who had helped make an accountability letter for the disbursement of the first phase of funds. The giving of money sincerely to the office was considered to have occurred after the beneficiaries received the transfer of funds to each bank account. The public prosecutor previously asked the judge to sentence the defendants Ismud and Sukardin to 2 years in prison and a fine of Rp. 100 million, subsidiary to 3 months in prison. For Andi Sirajudin, the public prosecutor asked the judge to sentence him to 3 years and a fine of Rp. 250 million, subsidiary to 6 months in prison. The prosecutor demanded such a sentence by stating that the actions of the three defendants were proven to have violated Articles 11 and 12e of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended by Law no. 20 of 2001 in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) of the 1st Criminal Code. The prosecutor also explained in the description that the initial corruption case was revealed, namely from the complaint of social assistance beneficiaries in the distribution program in 2021. The beneficiaries of this assistance came from the fire disaster victims in Bima Regency in 2020 as many as 258 families spread across 6 villages. Each recipient gets financial assistance from the ministry directly to their respective personal accounts. The total funds disbursed are IDR 5.4 billion. The budget is received in two stages, 60 percent for the first stage, the rest is given on the condition that the recipient must make a letter of responsibility. From the examination of beneficiaries with a total of 258 people, it was revealed that there was a cut in social assistance funds from the Bima District Social Service with varying nominal. The cuts occurred when the recipient disbursed the social assistance funds through the banking sector. According to the recipient's statement, the Social Service Agency cut it with the excuse of administrative costs. The cut value is quite diverse, ranging from Rp. 500 thousand to Rp. 1.2 million per recipient. In this case, the prosecutor described the roles of each defendant starting with the report of the defendant Sukardin as a companion to Andi Sirajudin, the Head of the Bima District Social Service regarding recipients who could not make SPJ. As the head of the service, Andi ordered Sukardin to cut social assistance funds from aid recipients as an administrative fee for making SPJs. The cuts varied. For houses that were lightly damaged, Rp. 500 thousand was cut, moderately damaged Rp. 800 thousand, and heavily damaged Rp. 1.2 million. From that cut, Sukardin managed to collect Rp105 million. The cut was then deposited with Andi Sirajudin and Ismud.

From the funds collected, the prosecutor explained that Andi Sirajudin received Rp23 million and Ismud Rp32 million. Sukardin took the remaining Rp50 million.