KPK Talks About Weighting Sentences After Detaining This Entrepreneur Because He Was Bribery Of The Former Regent Of Labuhanbatu

DOC VOI

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has detained the Regent of Labuhanbatu, North Sumatra, Erik Adtrada Ritonga after being caught in a hand arrest operation (OTT). Erik was named a suspect in the alleged bribery in the procurement of goods and services along with three other people.

One of them is Effendy Syahputra who is a businessman. From the search, it turned out that he was also hit by a silent operation in July 2018 until he was finally sentenced to 3 years in prison by the Medan District Court, North Sumatra.

Effendy alias Asiong was proven to have bribed the former Regent of Labuhanbatu Pangonal Harahap at that time. The money given reached Rp42.28 billion, whose goal was to get a project from 2016-2018.

"This condition makes Effendy have the opportunity to be charged more severely than the previous sentence," said KPK Deputy Chair Nurul Ghufron. Because, he is a recidivist or perpetrator of the recurrence.

"There is a weight for recidivists. Based on the Criminal Code, the criminal weight for recidivists is one-third," said Ghufron in as quoted from the Indonesian KPK YouTube, Saturday, January 13.

He then gave an example, if there was a defendant who was previously sentenced to 12 years, he could increase to three years when he was a recidivist. Thus, the total sentence imposed by the court can reach 15 years.

"We have prosecution guidelines, including recidivists," he said.

Previously reported, the KPK named four suspects related to the procurement of goods and services starting from OTT. They are Erik Adtrada Ritonga who is the Regent of Labuhanbatu, Member of the Labuhanbatu Regency DPRD Rudi Syahputra Ritonga, and two private parties namely Efendy Sahputra alias Asiong and Fazar Syahputra alias Abe.

In this case, Erik allegedly appointed Rudi as his right-hand man to make project arrangements whose budget came from the APBD worth Rp1.4 trillion. This process is carried out by determining the contractor unilaterally.

There are two projects that are of concern in this case, namely the improvement of Sei Rakyat-Sei Berombang Street, Central Panai District and Sei Lihat-Sidamakmur Street, Bilah Hilir/District, Panai Hulu District. Rudi, who is Erik's right-hand man, then conveyed a 5-15 percent fee requirement for contractors who want to do work.

Efendy and Fazar then agreed on this and prepared citation money at Erik's direction through Rudi. The handover is made through bank transfers and cash.

The value of the cash received by Erik through Rudi from the two entrepreneurs reached Rp551.5 million. This amount is part of the promised Rp1.7 billion from the fee money.