Head Of Aru Islands Education And Culture Jusuf Apalem Sentenced To 1 Year In Prison In Corruption Cases Shopping For Money

The Head of the Education Office of the Aru Islands Regency was lightly sentenced by the Ambon Corruption Court. (3/11) (ANTARA/daniel/)

AMBON - Head of the Education and Culture Office of the Archipelago Regency, Aru Jusuf Apalem, who was accused of corruption in the misuse and irregularities in the 2018 budget year of Rp4.3 billion, was sentenced to one year in prison. "To declare the defendant guilty of violating Article 3 of Law Number 20 of 2001 concerning amendments to Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the eradication of corruption in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) 1 of the Criminal Code," said Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Committee, Wilson Shriver accompanied by two member judges in Ambon, Antara, Friday, November 3. The defendant was also declared not legally and convincingly proven to have committed a criminal act of corruption together as in the primary indictment and therefore acquitted the defendant from the indictment. The panel of judges also sentenced the defendant to pay a fine of Rp. 50 million, subsidiary to one month in prison. Establishing the detention period that the defendant has served is deducted entirely from the sentence imposed, ordering the defendant to remain in custody. In the verdict, the panel of judges also determined and ordered the public prosecutor to return the Rp150 million deposited in Account Number: 186-00-04120693 RPL 061 of the Ambon Class 1A District Court to Bank Mandiri Ambon on 27 June 2023. The money was returned to the defendant Jusuf Apalem alias Ucu through Helena Djerol. There are also things that incriminate the defendant being sentenced to prison for not supporting the government's program in eradicating corruption, while the mitigating thing is that the defendant is polite and has never been convicted.

The judge's decision was lighter than the demands of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Archipelago, Aru Iskandar Muda Harahap, who demanded the defendant for eight years and six months in prison at the previous trial. The defendant was also required to pay a fine of Rp. 300 million, subsidiary to six months in prison.