2 Former Distan Bima Official Sentenced To 8 Years In Prison At The NTB High Court

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION

The Panel of Judges of the West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) High Court sentenced two former officials of the Bima Muhammad and Nurmayang Sari District Agriculture, Crops and Horticulture (PTPH) Offices to 8 years in prison in the corruption case of the distribution of production facilities (sapprody) and new rice fields for the 2016 fiscal year.

"The trial itself stated that the defendant Muhammad and Nurmayang Sari were legally and convincingly proven guilty of committing a criminal act of corruption as in the primary indictment of the public prosecutor by imposing a prison sentence of 8 years," said Achmad Setyo Pudjoharsoyo, chairman of the panel of judges at the appeal level, read out the verdict as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, August 2.

In addition to imprisonment, Achmad together with member judges Heru Mustofa and Rodjai S. Irawan imposed a fine on the two defendants with a value of Rp. 400 million, subsidiary to 6 months in prison.

Against the two defendants, the judge also imposed an additional penalty in the form of paying compensation for state losses of Rp1.27 billion, subsidiary to 6 months in prison.

By submitting this decision, the panel of judges at the appeal level stated that they accepted the appeal request of the public prosecutor and the defendant and canceled the decision of the Corruption Court at the Mataram District Court for the Muhammad and Nurmayang Sari cases with the number: 3/Pid.Sus-TPK/2023/PN Mtr.

In the first instance court, the panel of judges stated that the actions of the two defendants were proven to have violated the indictment of a subsidiary of the public prosecutor, namely Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended by Law no. 20 of 2001 jo. Article 55 paragraph (1) 1st of the Criminal Code.

By stating that both of them abused their authority in their positions, the judge consisting of Putu Gde Hariadi with members Lalu Moh. Sandi Iramaya and Fadhli Hanra sentenced the defendant Muhammad to 2 years in prison and 1 year for the defendant Nurmayang Sari.

For the criminal fine, the judge determined that the two defendants each pay Rp. 50 million, subsidiary to 2 months in prison.

To the two defendants, the judge also charged the state compensation with a value of Rp. 86 million for the defendants Muhamad and Rp. 43 million for the defendant Nur Mayangsari.

In the verdict, the judge stated that the two defendants together with the former Head of the Bima Regency PTPH Office M. Tayeb committed a criminal act of corruption by abusing their authority in office.

As a result of this abuse of authority, the judge determined that there was a state loss of Rp260 million by burdening M. Tayeb to pay compensation of Rp130 million. This figure is different from the results of the NTB BPKP audit of Rp5.1 billion.

The basis of the judge for ruling out the results of the NTB BPKP audit refers to Supreme Court Regulation (Perma) Number 5 of 2014 concerning Additional Crimes in Replacement Money in Corruption Crimes.

The budget in this distribution program is worth IDR 14.4 billion. The budget comes from the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture. This program is distributed with the aim of increasing food production in Bima Regency.

It was recorded that 241 farmer groups (poktan) in Bima Regency were included in the list of beneficiaries with details of Rp8.9 billion for 158 poktan that manage 4,447 hectares of rice fields and Rp5.5 billion for 83 poktans with a rice area of 2,780 hectares.

The distribution of the budget is carried out directly to the banking accounts of each group. The disbursement process is carried out in two stages. The first stage is IDR 10.3 billion, 70 percent of the total budget is IDR 14.4 billion, and 30 percent is in the second stage with a value of IDR 4.1 billion.

Muhammad in this case acted as Head of the Land Development Rehabilitation and Plant Protection Division of the Bima Regency PTPH Service. Meanwhile, Nurmayang Sari acts as the former Head of the Land Rehabilitation and Development Section (RPL) of the Bima Regency PTPH Office.