PT Strengthens 8-Year Prison Sentence Of Former East Lombok DPRD Member In Agricultural Machine Distribution Corruption Case

Court illustration. (Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The judge of the West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) High Court upheld the decision of the Mataram District Court (PN) on the verdict of the defendant Saprudin, a former member of the East Lombok DPRD in the case of corruption in the distribution of Agricultural Equipment and Machinery (Alsintan) for the 2018 fiscal year. "Receiving an appeal from the legal counsel for the defendant Saprudin and the public prosecutor by confirming the decision of the Mataram District Court," said Head of the PT Panel of Judges at the appeal level Ni Made Sudani when reading the verdict of the defendant Saprudin in an open trial through a YouTube channel broadcast of PT NTB, Mataram, Wednesday, October 25, which was confiscated by Antara. In addition to confirming the court's decision at the first instance dated September 5, 2023, the judge at the appeal level also determined that the defendant should remain detained. The judge said that the defendant Saprudin was proven to have participated in the corruption crime in the distribution of alsintan in East Lombok Regency. With this decision, the judge sentenced the defendant to 8 years in prison and a fine of Rp. 400 million, subsidiary to 4 months in prison. In addition to imposing the main sentence, the judge also charged the defendant to pay half the compensation for state losses worth Rp1.9 billion, a subsidiary of 3 years from the total BPKP NTB audit of Rp3.81 billion.

In the decision, the judge of the first member Mahyudin Igo gave a dissenting opinion by stating that the defendant's actions violated the indictment of the public prosecutor's subsidiary. The indictment relates to Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended by Law no. 20 of 2001 jo. Article 55 paragraph (1) of the 1st Criminal Code. The alsintan aid distribution project through the East Lombok Agriculture Service came from the assistance of the Directorate General of Agricultural Infrastructure and Facilities at the Ministry of Agriculture in the 2018 fiscal year. In procurement, the Government distributes aid in the form of alsintan to farmers registered in two UPJAs in the East Lombok region. The alsintan assistance is in the form of 5 units of four-wheeled tractors, 60 units of two-wheeled tractors, 3 inches of water pumps with 121 units, 29 irrigation water pumps, and 250 hand sprayers. In the distribution, it was revealed that the CPCL data published by the Head of the East Lombok Agriculture Service, Zaini, did not go through a verification mechanism. The UPJA made by Asri Mardianto on Saprudin's orders was only in the form of a formality.