Proven To Receive Mining Permit Bribery, Former Head Of ESDM Tanah Bumbu South Kalimantan Sentenced To 2 Years In Prison

The defendant H Raden Dwidjono Putrohadi Sutopo who took part in the online trial at the Banjarmasin Corruption Court, Wednesday (22/6/2022). BETWEEN/WORDS

BANJARMASIN - Former Head of the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Tanah Bumbu Regency, South Kalimantan (South Kalimantan) H Raden Dwidjono Putrohadi Sutopo was sentenced to 2 years in prison and fined Rp500 million. He was proven guilty of accepting bribes related to mining permits.

"If the fine is not paid, it will be replaced with imprisonment for 4 months," said the chairman of the panel of judges, Yusriansyah, in a trial at the Banjarmasin Corruption Court.

The panel of judges is convinced that the defendant is guilty of corruption and money laundering as stated in the first indictment and the second primary indictment, namely Article 12 letter a in conjunction with Article 18 of Law (UU) Number 20 of 2001 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption.

Furthermore, the defendant was found guilty of committing a criminal act in Article 3 of Law Number 8 of 2010 concerning the Prevention and Eradication of the Crime of Money Laundering.

In their consideration, the panel of judges dismissed the argument that the defendant's defense of more than Rp. 13 billion in money that the late Henry Soetio handed over to the defendant through the intermediary Yudi Aron was a debt.

The absence of evidence of the debt and credit agreement and the complexity of the mechanism for handing over the money are considered by the panel of judges as a way to hide the real act, namely giving aliases of gratification.

The panel of judges also disagreed with the public prosecutor who stated that the defendant received more than Rp. 27 billion in cash, but only Rp. 13 billion.

This verdict is lower than the prosecutor's demands, which demanded that the defendant be sentenced to 5 years in prison and a fine of Rp. 1.3 billion, a subsidiary to a one-year prison sentence.

The attorney for the defendant Lucky Omega Hasan appreciated the panel of judges' wisdom in deciding the case.

"Our client is still thinking about it, but basically we appreciate the judge's decision," he said.

This was conveyed by the defendant who was present online from the Class IIA Banjarmasin Prison.