Benny Tjokrosaputro Sentenced to Zero in the Asabri Corruption Case which Lost IDR 22.7 T to the State

Benny Tjokrosaputro, a defendant in the 2012-2019 corruption case in the management of finance and investment funds of PT Asabri (Persero). (ANTARA-Muhammad Iqbal)

JAKARTA - The Panel of Judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor) handed down a zero verdict on Benny Tjokrosaputro in the 2012-2019 PT Asabri (Persero) financial management and investment fund corruption case.

President Director of PT Hanson International Tbk. was proven guilty in a case that caused losses to state finances of up to IDR 22.788 trillion.

"On trial, stated that the defendant Benny Tjokrosaputro was legally and convincingly proven guilty of committing the criminal act of participating in corruption as in the first primary charge and money laundering as in the second primary indictment. Sentenced the defendant to zero punishment", said Chief Judge Ignatius Eko Purwanto in court Corruption Crime Jakarta, Thursday, January 12.

The sentence is different from the demands of the Public Prosecutor (JPU) at the Attorney General's Office who demanded that Benny Tjokrosaputro be sentenced to death and be obliged to pay compensation of IDR 5.733 trillion.

The panel of judges also imposed a penalty of IDR 5.733 trillion in replacement money, taking into account the evidence confiscated from Benny Tjokrosaputro in the form of 1,069 land and buildings seized for the state and counted as replacement money and evidence confiscated from Riski Heru Cakra and calculated as replacement money.

"After the decision has permanent legal force and is entirely auctioned off to cover the replacement money, provided that if the auction results exceed the replacement money, the remainder is returned to the convict. However, if the auction results are insufficient and the convict does not pay the shortfall no later than one month after the decision has permanent legal force, then his property will be auctioned off to cover the replacement money", continued Judge Ignatius.

The decision was based on the first primary charge of Article 2 paragraph (1) in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999, as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001 concerning the Eradication of Corruption Crimes Jo Article 55 paragraph (1) 1st of the Criminal Code and both primary Article 3 of RI Law No. 8 of 2010 concerning Prevention and Eradication of Money Laundering Crimes.

"Even though based on the considerations of the panel of judges, the defendant was found guilty of committing the first and second primary crimes; however, the law imperatively determines that if a person is sentenced to death or life imprisonment, in addition to not being subject to any other crimes except for the revocation of certain rights and announcement of the judge's decision as referred to in Article 67 of the Criminal Code, according to the panel of judges this provision absolutely must be guided by", he explained.

The panel of judges also presented four reasons for disagreeing with the prosecutor regarding the imposition of the death penalty on Benny Tjokro.

"First, the public prosecutor has violated the principle of prosecution because he demanded outside the article he was charged with. Second, the public prosecutor did not prove certain conditions for the use of funds by the defendant when he committed the crime of corruption", said the panel of judges.

The third reason, based on the facts, the panel of judges considered the defendant to have committed corruption when the situation in the country was safe.

"Fourth, the defendant has not been proven to have committed the criminal act of corruption repeatedly. Therefore, there is a legal reason to set aside the death claim filed by the public prosecutor in his charge", said the judge.

According to the panel of judges, Benny Tjokrosaputro was sentenced to life imprisonment on 16 October 2020 by the Central Jakarta District Court and was strengthened by the Jakarta High Court and the Supreme Court, so that it has permanent legal force.

"The defendant served part of the sentence in the Jiwasraya corruption case with permanent legal force. The corruption act in the Jiwasraya case coincided and in the PT Asabri case, so it is more appropriate to be categorized as concursus realis or meerdaadse samenloop, not as a repetition of a crime", he said.

In this case, PT Asabri received funding from THT program funds (Old Age Savings) and AIP Program funds (Accumulation of Pension Contributions), which are sourced from ASABRI participant contributions every month and are deducted from the basic salaries of the TNI, Polri, and ASN/PNS at the Ministry. Defense by 8 percent; with details for Pension Funds with a deduction of 4.75 percent of the basic salary and THT a deduction of 3.25 percent of the basic salary.

PT Asabri invests in the capital market in the form of stock instruments, including stocks that are growing or known as layer 2 or layer 3, namely stocks with high risk.

Benny Tjokro and eight other defendants made investments in stocks, mutual funds, Medium Term Notes (MTN) or medium-term notes, and other investments that were high risk and had poor performance, and experienced price reductions that caused losses to the state of up to IDR 22.788 trillion.

Based on the Antara report, eight other defendants have already been sentenced in this case, namely the President Director (Director) of PT Asabri 2012-March 2016 Major General Retired. Adam Rachmat Damiri, President Director of PT Asabri March 2016 - July 2020 Lt. Gen. Retired Sonny Widjaja, Director of Investment and Finance of PT. Asabri 2012 - June 2014 Bachtiar Effendi.

Furthermore, Director of Investment and Finance of PT Asabri July 2014 - August 2019 Hari Setianto, Director of PT Jakarta Issuer Investor Relations Jimmy Sutopo, Managing Director of PT Eureka Prima Jakarta Tbk (LCGP) Lukman Purnomosidi, President Commissioner of PT Trada Alam Minera Heru Hidayat, Managing Director of PT Hanson International Tbk. Benny Tjokrosaputro and President Director of PT Rimo International Lestari Teddy Tjokrosapoetro.