Involved In Village Fund Corruption, Village Head And Secretary In West Lombok Sentenced To 4 Years In Prison Fine Of IDR 100 Million

Two defendants of corruption in the 2018 Terong Tawah Village budget, Sahirpan (right), former village head and Burhanudin (center), former village secretary (Via ANTARA)

MATARAM - The judges of the Mataram Corruption District Court sentenced Sahirpan, the former head of Terong Tawah Village, West Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara.

A similar sentence was also imposed on the former Secretary of Terong Tawah Village, Burhanudin.

"Declare that defendant one, Sahirpan and defendant two, Burhanudin, have been legally and convincingly proven guilty of committing a criminal act of corruption as described in the subsidiary indictment," said the panel of judges Sri Sulastri during a verdict hearing at the Mataram Tipikor District Court, Antara, Tuesday, 26 April.

The subsidiary indictment stated that both of them were proven to have violated Article 3 Juncto Article 18 of Law No. 20/2001 concerning Amendments to Law No. 31/1999 concerning Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption.

In addition to being sentenced to prison for four years, the two defendants were also fined Rp. 100 million each, subsidiary to three months in prison.

Because the indictment includes article 18 relating to state losses, both of them are also charged with recovering state losses from corruption in the 2018 village fund budget. The value is IDR 575.96 million from the village fund budget of IDR 1.8 billion. This value is in accordance with the results of the re-calculation of the Judges of the Mataram Tipikor District Court.

"It charges defendants one and two to pay compensation of IDR 287.98 million each," he said.

If it cannot be paid within a month after the decision is final and binding, he continued, the assets of the two defendants will be confiscated to cover compensation.

"But if they can't cover it up, then the two defendants are obliged to replace it with imprisonment for one year," said Sri.

The judge's considerations made this decision because the issue of the accountability report for the management of the 2018 village fund budget was not in accordance with the implementation in the field.

Many fictitious programs with proof of signatures on budget disbursement notes were falsified. The 2018 budget accountability report was also made at the end of 2020.

"The accountability report was made at the end of 2020, as if it was made at the end of 2018," he said.

The preparation of the accountability report was also carried out by Burhanudin as the village secretary with Sahirpan's approval as the Terong Tawah Village Head.

Furthermore, the two defendants through their legal advisory team, Abdul Hanan, stated that they accepted the verdict, considering the verdict was lower than the demands of five years and six months in prison and a fine of Rp. 200 million, subsidiary to six months in prison.

Meanwhile, the public prosecutor stated that before the Panel of Judges was still thinking about the decision.