Court Rejects Pretrial Motion of Suspended Sitaro Regent

Manado (ANTARA) - The Manado District Court has rejected a pretrial motion filed by the suspended Regent of the Siau Tagulandang Biaro (Sitaro) Islands, CIK alias Cyntia, regarding her naming as a suspect in the alleged corruption of housing repair stimulus funds following the eruption of Mount Ruang. “Adjudged, the applicant’s motion is rejected in its entirety and the applicant is ordered to pay court costs set at nil, thus the verdict was read in a session open to the public,” said Judge Philip Pangalila at the Manado District Court, banging his gavel to ratify the decision on Monday. The judge stated that both the applicant and the respondent had submitted evidence, including documents and witnesses, during the trial. The judge considered that assessing the extent of the evidence presented in court is not within the authority of a pretrial hearing, as pretrial proceedings are only empowered to examine formal aspects and not the substance of the case. The applicant’s legal counsel, Munsir, expressed dissatisfaction with the judge’s considerations, arguing that a witness who should not have been considered was taken into account. He also claimed that the existence of the investigation order and the notification of investigation commencement contradicted the actual circumstances, severely undermining the sense of justice being sought. Meanwhile, the respondent, the North Sulawesi High Prosecutor’s Office, represented by its legal team, welcomed the pretrial ruling. North Sulawesi High Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson Januarius Bolitobi said they appreciated the decision rejecting the applicant’s motion. “From the outset, we were confident that our investigators had secured at least two pieces of valid evidence and followed very strict procedures before taking legal action in this case,” Bolitobi said. He stated that the pretrial ruling serves as constitutional proof that the prosecutor’s office has acted within the correct legal corridor. “Our focus now is to finalise the main case file. We are committed to resolving this case transparently and accountably for the sake of public legal certainty. We will provide updates on the progress of the case file transfer later,” Bolitobi added. The alleged corruption case involving stimulus funds for repairing houses damaged by the 2024 Mount Ruang eruption is suspected to have caused state losses exceeding Rp22 billion.