4 Defendants In Sirup Drug Case Sentenced To 4 Years In Prison

The defendants from PT Afi Farma after a trial at the Kediri City District Court, East Java, Wednesday (1/11/2023). The panel of judges sentenced the defendants to two years in prison and a fine of Rp. 1 billion, subsidiary to three months in prison. BETWEEN ANTARA/Asmaul

KEDIRI - The panel of judges at the Kediri City District Court, East Java, Wednesday sentenced four defendants, respectively, who are officials of the pharmaceutical company PT Afi Farma in the case of typhoid drugs containing etylene glycol.

In addition to imprisonment, the judge also sentenced the defendants to pay a fine of Rp. 1 billion, subsidiary to three months in prison.

The pharmaceutical company PT Afi Farma is accused of producinghady drugs containing cypressethylene glycol (EG) exceeding a safe threshold or 0.1 mg/ml, which then resulted in a number of children who took the silent drug experiencing kidney failure.

"The defendant legally and convincingly committed the crime of producing or utilizing as in the first indictment and sentenced him to two years in prison each and a fine of Rp. 1 billion with the condition that if he is not paid, he will be replaced with three months in prison," said Chief Judge Boedi Haryantho when reading the verdict. reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, November 1.

During the trial, Chief Justice Boedi Haryantho was accompanied by two members, namely Agung Kusumo Nugroho and Ira Rosalin.

Four defendants were also present in person at the trial, namely PT Afi Farma President Director Arief Prasetya Harahap, PT Afi Farma Nony Satya Anugrah Quality Insurance Supervision Manager, PT Afi Farma Anarwati Suwito, and Production Manager at the same company Istikhomah.

The panel of judges gave the defendants seven days to decide whether to accept or appeal the verdict.

The verdict of the panel of judges was much lighter than the demands of the public prosecutor who demanded Arief Prasety Ahaharahap with a nine-year prison sentence. Meanwhile, the other three defendants were charged with a lighter sentence of seven years in prison. The four were also required to pay a fine of Rp. 1 billion or a subsidiary of six months in prison.

Meanwhile, the team of legal counsel for the defendant Arief Prasetya Harahap, namely Muh Samsul Hidayat, respected the judge's decision and stated that he was still thinking about the verdict for legal appeal.

As a team of legal advisors, Samsul said that this crime was a corporate crime because it was committed by a pharmaceutical company in the form of a company and not alone by the defendant.

"The director, the manager, is impossible to produce drugs alone without a permit. For licensing, it is also not the defendant who issued it, but PT Afi Farma, so we are of the opinion that this crime was actually committed by a corporation, not an individual," he said.

Samsulpun admitted that he was not satisfied with the results of the trial that had taken place. The legal team is of the opinion and continues to uphold the defense that this is a corporate crime so that his client should be released.

Meanwhile, Public Prosecutor Sigit Artantodjati said that his party was still thinking about the verdict decided by the panel of judges.

"If we have a burdensome thing, namely the victims are children, the effect is very large. We are still thinking about it," he said.

In this case, the defendants violated Article 196 in conjunction with Article 98 paragraphs 2 and 3 of Law Number 36 of 2009 concerning Health in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code. This article was proven so that the panel of judges sentenced him to two years in prison and a fine of Rp. 1 billion, subsidiary to three months in prison.