Village Fund Corruption Of IDR 600 Million For Spree, Former Head Of Village In Ogan Ilir Sentenced To 5 Years In Prison

Judge Abu Hanifah presided over a teleconference trial for the corruption case of the former Arisan Gading village head, Ogan Ilir, at the Corruption Court in Palembang, Monday, January 25. (Aziz Munajar / Antara)

JAKARTA - The former Head of Arisan Gading Village, Ogan Ilir Regency, South Sumatra, was sentenced to five years in prison for being proven to have diverted village funds amounting to IDR 698,347,000 in 2018.

As reported by Antara, Monday, January 25, the Chief Judge of the Corruption Eradication Court in Palembang, Abu Hanifah, during the teleconference trial also asked the defendant named Jon Heri (43) to compensate the state for Rp.652 million.

"If you are unable to pay compensation for state losses, your assets can be confiscated and if it is insufficient, you can receive an additional one year imprisonment," said Abu Hanifah when reading the verdict.

The panel of judges sentenced the defendant to have violated Article 2 paragraph (1) of Law Number 31 Year 1999 concerning Eradication of Corruption in accordance with the primary indictment of Prosecutor Ogan Ilir.

The defendant used the village budget from the 2018 State Budget amounting to Rp.698,347,000 for the construction of two projects that did not match the physical volume, namely the construction of the Rabat Beton Dusun I and II roads in Arisan Gading Village.

In the two projects the defendant also included two fictitious activities, because there was no accountability report and the signature on the receipt was not the signature of the recipient.

In addition, the defendant was also proven to have diverted the Village-Owned Enterprises (BUMDes) budget of Rp50 million on the pretext of purchasing a tent.

The judge assessed that the behavior of the defendant did not set a good example to the public because he used the state budget for personal gain and was extravagant.

The verdict was lower than the prosecutor's demands that the defendant was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison. Therefore, the prosecutor expressed his thoughts and the defendant also considered the verdict.