Buzzer in Obstruction of Investigation Case Involving the Attorney General's Office Acquitted

Adhiya Muzzaki, identified as the buzzer in the obstruction of investigation case handled by the Attorney General’s Office (Kejaksaan Agung), has been acquitted of the charges. “Having considered, the panel states that the defendant Adhiya Muzzaki above has not been proven legally and convincingly guilty of the offense as charged in the single indictment,” said presiding judge Efendi on Wednesday (4/3), quoted from detikcom. “The defendant is therefore acquitted from the Prosecution’s charges,” he added. The panel then ordered Adhiya to be released from detention. The panel also ordered restoration of Adhiya’s rights in terms of capacity, status, dignity and honour. “Order that the defendant be released from detention immediately after this verdict is pronounced,” the judge said. In its considerations, the panel stated that Adhiya only posted content on social media after obtaining approval from the other defendant, advocate Marcella Santoso. The judge noted that the total money received by Adhiya amounted to Rp 864,500,000 which Adhiya used for personal needs and for paying buzzers, provided by Marcella Santoso. “Considering that the total payment the defendant Adhiya Muzzaki received from witness Marcella Santoso is Rp 864,500,000, used by the defendant for personal purposes, paying Rp 1,500,000 per buzzer per project, providing assistance to colleagues for rental costs, and purchasing laptops for buzzers needing laptops for university,” the judge said. In addition, the judge also assessed that the evidence in this case should have been tried in a general criminal trial rather than a corruption case. Thus the indictment of obstruction under Article 21 of the Law on the Eradication of Corruption (UU Tipikor) read together with Article 20( c ) of Law No. 1 of 2023 on the Indonesian Penal Code (KUHP) was not met. “Considering that therefore, without intending to pass further judgment on whether the matter at hand has fulfilled the elements of the offence under Article 27A in conjunction with Article 45(4) of the Electronic Information and Transactions Law, the Panel of Judges concludes that the proper forum to try the matter at hand is a general criminal trial and not the Corruption Court,” the judge said. Earlier, Adhiya was charged with 8 years imprisonment, a Rp600 million fine with a subsistence sentence of 150 days of detention by the Prosecution (JPU). The three cases referred to as affected by the alleged obstruction include the case of corruption in the export of crude palm oil (CPO) and its derivatives for January–April 2022, corruption in the management of the tin commodity trading system in the IUP area at PT Timah Tbk 2015–2022, and corruption in sugar imports. In its consideration of the charges, the Prosecutor stated that Adhiya, together with Advocate Junaedi Saibih and Tian Bahtiar, ran a non-judicial scheme outside the trial with the aim of shaping negative public opinion as if the handling of the case was not proper.