Corruption Of IDR 7.5 Billion, Former Director Of PDAM Bone Bolango Sentenced To 12 Years In Prison

Yusar Laya during a verdict hearing at the Gorontalo Corruption Court (Tipidkor), on Thursday (21/3). (ANTARA/Zulkifli Polimengo)

GORONTALO - Former director of the Bone Bolango Regional Drinking Water Company (PDAM), Gorontalo, Yusar Laya was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

The defendant Yusar Laya was proven to have committed an act of enriching himself, another person or a corporation.

"That enriched the defendant at least Rp7.5 billion, and enriched witness Hamim Pou as Regent of Bone Bolango of Rp580 million," said the Panel of Judges as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, March 21.

The judge conveyed that the defendant's actions had harmed the state's finances or economy by Rp. 24.3 billion.

This amount is as in the Audit Result Report Number: PE.03.03/LHP-127/PW31/5/2023 dated June 20, 2023 in the Context of Calculation of State Financial Losses from the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) Representative of Gorontalo Province.

Prosecutor Rahmat Mappiasse said related to the verdict read out that there were other parties who also enjoyed PDAM's corruption money so that the investigation team would still conduct an in-depth investigation.

"Some of the evidence mentioned by the Panel of Judges will be used in other cases. Whether it is related as stated by the Panel of Judges, our team is still investigating," said Rahmat.

Meanwhile, the issue of the flow of funds to the former Regent of Bone Bolango has emerged in the facts of the previous trial.

Responding to Rahma Pakaya's decision, the attorney for the defendant Yusar Laya said that his party would still think about it, but as soon as he also highlighted one name that was suspected of being involved in this case.

"Earlier it was stated that there was one important name that played an active role in the use of the budget," said Rahma Pakaya.

The defendant Yusar Laya was met by reporters claiming to have submitted his request at previous trials so that the Panel of Judges could order the Public Prosecutor to immediately identify the suspect and detain the former Bone Bolango Regent Hamim Pou.

"Earlier, we have heard how the verdict is. I hope that the Gorontalo Prosecutor's Office investigator team will not turn a blind eye to the results of this decision," he said.

It is known that apart from Yusar Laya, there were two other defendants, each with the initials HH and MHR as consultants in the case, who had been sentenced to one year in prison, where the verdict was considered lighter than the prosecutor's demands, namely 1 year and 6 months in prison.