KLHK Encourages Multiple Penalties For Environmental And Forestry Cases

Director General of Gakkum KLHK Ratio Ridho Sani (left) at a press conference at the KLHK office, Jakarta, Friday (29/7/2022). (ANTARA/Prisca Triferna)

JAKARTA - Director General of Environmental and Forestry Law Enforcement (Gakkum LHK) Ratio Ridho Sani said his party would continue to encourage multi-door criminal law enforcement efforts for environmental and forestry cases to have a deterrent effect.

"We are currently pushing for multidoor law enforcement efforts, imposing multiple layers of punishment. We are applying multiple layers of punishment in the environment and forestry," said Director General of Gakkum at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) Ratio Sani at a press conference at the KLHK office in Jakarta, as reported by ANTARA, Friday, July 29.

According to him, the imposition of multiple layers of punishment is carried out so that there is a deterrent effect for perpetrators of environmental crimes.

In addition to multiple layers of punishment for environmental and forestry cases, Ratio also said that the Ministry of Environment and Forestry is preparing steps to take action against money laundering crimes related to these cases.

He took the example of several cases being handled by the Directorate General of Law and Human Rights, Ministry of Environment and Forestry using multiple layers of punishment, one of which was the case of illegal hazardous and toxic waste management that occurred in a social forestry area in Karawang Regency, West Java.

In this case, the suspect was subject to not only the Environmental Protection and Management Act but also the Forestry Law.

Based on the articles in the two laws, the suspect is threatened with a maximum imprisonment of 10 years and a fine of Rp. 10 billion, as well as 10 years in prison and a fine of Rp. 7.5 billion.

"Multidoor is the threat of a very heavy punishment. These are the steps we are taking, why? We have to save our natural resources, our environment. One of the steps we take is strict law enforcement," he said.