Commission III to Hold Hearing on Videographer Amsal Sitepu Case Tomorrow

Commission III of the DPR is scheduled to hold a public hearing (RDPU) or audience to discuss the alleged budget mark-up case involving videographer Amsal Sitepu in Karo Regency, North Sumatra. Commission III Chairman Habiburokhman stated that the meeting is planned for Monday (30/3) around 9:00 WIB. “This RDPU is being held in response to numerous public demands that view the case as tainted by injustice,” Habib said in his statement on Sunday (29/3). Habiburokhman reminded that the new Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure uphold the principle that the law should not only create formal justice but also substantive justice. Furthermore, he continued, the priority in eradicating corruption should be maximising the recovery of state financial losses, which generally occur in major cases. “Commission III reminds law enforcement that the spirit of the new Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure is how the legal process produces substantive justice, not merely formalistic justice,” he said. Amsal Sitepu was prosecuted for two years in prison on 20 February in the alleged corruption case of inflating the budget for producing village profile videos in Karo Regency, North Sumatra, for the fiscal years 2020 to 2022. According to Detik.com, Amsal produced the village profiles through his company, CV Promiseland, at a cost of Rp 30,000,000 per village. Based on the audit report, the defendant’s actions caused a state financial loss of Rp 202,161,980. The public prosecutor concluded that Amsal’s actions violated the provisions of Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law No. 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended by Law No. 20 of 2001 on Amendments to Law No. 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of Corruption as Charged in the Subsidiary Indictment of the Public Prosecutor. “Amsal Sitepu, a videographer, is accused of inflating the budget (mark-up) for village promotional video services. However, videography work is creative work whose price does not have a certain standard,” said Habiburokhman.