KPK Investigator Bribery Proven, Azis Syamsuddin Sentenced To 3.5 Years In Prison, Less Than Prosecutor's Demand

Former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Muhammad Azis Syamsuddin with his wife Nurlita Zubaidah ahead of the reading of the verdict against Azis at the Jakarta Corruption Crime Court (Tipikor), Thursday (17/2/2022). (ANTARA/Desca Lidya Natalia)

JAKARTA - Former Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives (DPR) Azis Syamsuddin was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison and a fine of Rp. 250 million, subsidiary to four months in prison. Azis was found guilty of giving bribes worth Rp. 3.099 billion and US$ 36,000, bringing the total to around Rp. 3.619 billion, to former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigator Stepanus Robin Pattuju and lawyer Maskur Husain.

"The trial, declared that the defendant Muhammad Azis Syamsuddin was proven legally and convincingly guilty of committing a criminal act of corruption continuously based on the first indictment. Sentencing the defendant with a prison term of 3 years and 6 months, and a fine of Rp. 250 million, which if not paid was replaced imprisonment for 4 months," said Chief Justice Muhammad Damis at the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor), as reported by Antara, Thursday, February 17.

The verdict is lower than the demands of the KPK Public Prosecutor (JPU) who requested that Azis be sentenced to four years and two months in prison, plus a fine of IDR 250 million subsidiary to six months in prison.

The panel of judges, consisting of Muhammad Damis, Fazhal Hendri and Jaini Bashir, also revoked Azis' political rights for the next four years.

"Imposing an additional penalty in the form of revocation of political rights to be elected in public office for 4 years starting after the defendant has finished serving his main sentence," added Judge Damis.

The verdict is based on the first indictment of Article 5 paragraph 1 letter a of Law Number 31 of 1999, as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption in conjunction with Article 64 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code.

"Aggravating things, the defendant's actions did not support the government's program in eradicating corruption, the defendant damaged the public's image and trust in the DPR institution, the defendant did not admit his guilt, the defendant was confused during the trial. The mitigating thing was that the defendant had never been convicted, the defendant had family responsibilities. , said Damis.

This case began when the KPK investigated allegations of corruption related to the management of the Special Allocation Fund (DAK) for the Amendment of the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) for Central Lampung Regency for Fiscal Year 2017, since October 8, 2019, where it was suspected that Azis and Aliza Gunado were involved as parties. bribe recipient.

Azis is trying to prevent himself and Aliza Gunado, who is also a cadre of the Golkar Party, from being suspects by the KPK. Azis asked for the help of KPK investigators and was introduced to Stepanus Robin, who has been a KPK investigator since August 15, 2019 from the National Police.

Azis then met with Stepanus Robin at Azis' official residence in August 2020, to take care of the case involving Azis and Aliza, related to the KPK investigation in Central Lampung.

Stepanus Robin and Maskur Husain expressed their willingness to help, in exchange for a sum of IDR 4 billion, with a calculation of IDR 2 billion each from Azis and Aliza Gunado, with an advance of IDR 300 million.

Azis gave the advance payment to Stepanus Robin and Maskur Husain, with the distribution of Stepanus Robin receiving Rp. 100 million and Maskur Husain receiving Rp. 200 million. The money was transferred from Azis' BCA account in four stages, amounting to Rp50 million each, on 2, 3, 4 and 5 August 2020.

On August 5, 2020, Azis again gave US$100,000 in cash to Stepanus Robin at Azis' official residence on Jalan Denpasar Raya, South Jakarta.

Subsequently, a total of 36,000 US dollars was handed over to Maskur Husain in front of the Central Jakarta District Court and the remaining 64,000 US dollars was exchanged at a money changer to become Rp 936 million. at the Borero Keramat Sentiong restaurant.

In addition to this gift, from August 2020 to March 2021, Azis also gave money to Stepanus Robin and Maskur Husain several times, with a total amount of 171,900 Singapore dollars.

Stepanus Robin then exchanged the money at a money changer, using the identities of his friends Agus Susanto and Rizky Cinde Awaliyah, into rupiah in the amount of Rp1,863,887,000.

Some of the money was then given by Robin to Maskur Husain in early September 2020, in the amount of Rp. 1 billion and Rp. 800 million, in September 2020.

Thus, the total bribes given by Azis Syamsuddin to Stepanus Robin Pattuju and Maskur Husain were IDR 3,099,887,000 and USD 36,000, respectively. Regarding the decision, Azis Syamsuddin and the KPK prosecutor stated that they had thought about it for seven days.