Attorney General's Office Responds to Acquittal of Three Defendants in OOJ Case

The Attorney General’s Office (Kejaksaan Agung) has responded to the acquittal handed down by a panel of judges against three defendants accused of obstructing investigations in three corruption cases. Director of Prosecution at the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes Riono Budisantoso said he is still studying the judges’ decision, and therefore prosecutors have not yet determined any further legal action. “We will review or study to determine what legal steps we will take,” he told reporters on Wednesday (4 March). Nevertheless, Budisantoso said there is still a real possibility the prosecutors will appeal the decision. “The possibility remains open for that cassation. We will continue to strive to uphold justice wherever possible,” he added. Previously, the three defendants in the case — Junaedi Saibi as lawyer, Adhiya Muzzaki as a buzzer, and JakTV director Tian Bahtiar — were acquitted of the charges seeking eight and ten years in prison proposed by the prosecutors. The prosecutors believed they had obstructed investigations in the three corruption cases. The cases in question include corruption in tin commodity governance, corruption in importing sugar at the Ministry of Trade, and corruption in processing export licenses for crude palm oil (CPO) or cooking oil. The prosecutors stated that all three had actively and deliberately carried out non-judicial schemes outside court to form a negative opinion as if the handling of the cases by the public prosecutors in those three matters was not correct. Meanwhile, the Jakarta Corruption Court panel found them not proven beyond a reasonable doubt to have committed the crimes as charged in the single indictment.