Riau Islands Police Arrest Lawyers For Stealing Client's Money Of IDR 8.9 Billion

The Director of Criminal Investigation at the Riau Islands Police, Kombes Donny Alexander, gave a statement to reporters at the Riau Islands Police Headquarters, Batam City, Tuesday (20/8/2024). (ANTARA/Laily Rahmawaty)

The Directorate of General Criminal Investigation (Ditreskrimum) of the Riau Islands Police arrested Ahmad Rustam Ritonga, a lawyer who is also Deputy Chairman of Peradi Batam related to the theft of money belonging to his client worth Rp. 89 billion.

The Director of Criminal Investigation at the Riau Islands Police, Kombes Donny Alexander, said the suspect was arrested after being on the run for approximately 1 month.

"The suspect had fled from the jurisdiction of the Riau Islands Police or the Riau Islands Province, we monitor the person concerned (the suspect) in the Jakarta area," Donny said as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, August 20.

The arrest of the suspect is an attempt by the Riau Islands Police to provide legal certainty for victims who have reported their cases.

In this case, he said, there were two suspects, of which one suspect in the name of Roliati had already been processed at the Batam District Court.

The suspects Rustam Ritonga and Roliati are suspected of conspiring to steal money belonging to Lim Siang Huat, Director of PT Active Marine Industries (AMI) who died on June 6, 2021.

"The suspect's crime was committed after Lim Siang Huat died. From June 28 to July 12, 2021, he was withdrawn from Lim Siang Huat's account 12 times with a value of Rp. 8.9 billion," he said.

The mode used by the suspect to steal his client's money was as a lawyer for the victim's company to modify the Rp8.9 billion budget to pay for the company's advocacy services. Meanwhile, the victim never or felt that he had a case in the process of managing the lawyer.

The suspect, he said, made an agreement for personal advocates and lawyers who were attached with a stamp of Rp. 10,000 which was made on February 8, 2021.

"Faktanya setelah kami lakukan pemeriksaan kepada pihak Peruri yang mencetak materai tersebut, pada tanggal 8 Februari, materai yang tercatat dalam perjanjian jasa advokat itu belum keluar pada saat itu," kata Donny.

Regarding the money stolen by the suspect, Donny said the money was used for personal gain.

It is currently being investigated whether the money was used for contestation fees when the suspect ran for legislative member.

"It seems that the person concerned had registered as a legislative candidate, maybe whether it was used for the political process for the legislative candidate was still in the process of being investigated. But what is clear is that this process is a form of providing legal certainty to the reporting party and the public who reported it to the police," he said.

For his actions, Rustam Ritonga is suspected of Article 363 paragraph (1) of the 4th Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 64 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code or Article 372 of the Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) of the 1st Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 480 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) 1 in conjunction with Article 64 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code.

Meanwhile, another perpetrator, Roliati, has been sentenced to 1 year by the Batam District Court of Judges on June 10, 2024.

The judge stated that Roliati was proven to have violated the provisions of Article 363 paragraph (1) 4 in conjunction with Article 64 of the Criminal Code concerning sustainable theft.