Advocate Junaedi Saibih Faces Nine-Year Prison Sentence and Dismissal from University of Indonesia

Public prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Office have demanded that the panel of judges at the Corruption Court of the Central Jakarta District Court sentence advocate Junaedi Saibih to nine years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rp600 million, with a subsidiary penalty of 150 days’ confinement.

Prosecutors assessed that Junaedi had been proven to be involved in a bribery case targeting the panel of judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court who were presiding over the case of Permata Hijau Group, PT Wilmar Group, and PT Musim Mas Group in a corruption case relating to exports of crude palm oil (CPO) and its derivatives during the period of January to April 2022, involving a sum of Rp40 billion.

“[We demand the panel of judges] impose a prison sentence of nine years on the defendant Junaedi Saibih, reduced in full by the period the defendant has been in detention, with an order that the defendant remain held in a detention centre,” the prosecutor stated while reading the sentencing demands at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Wednesday evening (18 February).

Beyond that, prosecutors requested that the judges order the relevant advocates’ organisation to revoke Junaedi’s professional standing.

“To dishonourably discharge the defendant from his position as an employee of the University of Indonesia and as a lecturer at the university,” the prosecutor added.

Junaedi was found to have violated Article 6, paragraph 1, point (a), in conjunction with Article 18 of the Corruption Eradication Act, in conjunction with Article 20, point (c) of Law Number 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code.

In arriving at the sentencing demand, prosecutors outlined a number of aggravating and mitigating circumstances.

The aggravating factor was that Junaedi’s actions did not support the government’s programme for the conduct of a state administration that is clean and free from corruption, collusion, and nepotism.

Junaedi’s actions were deemed to have damaged public trust, particularly in the judicial institution, and to have degraded the dignity of the legal profession.

“Mitigating circumstances: the defendant has no prior criminal record,” the prosecutor stated.

The alleged bribery offence was committed by Junaedi together with his associates Marcella Santoso, Ariyanto Bakri, and M. Syafei, acting as representatives of Wilmar Group, Permata Hijau Group, and Musim Mas Group.