Court rules against Nurdin Halid

Court rules against Nurdin Halid

JAKARTA: The North Jakarta District Court on Thursday
dismissed a plea by high-profile graft suspect Nurdin Halid and
ruled that it had jurisdiction to try him on corruption charges
linked to the smuggling of sugar into Indonesia.

"The sugar smuggling was carried out by the defendant at
Tanjung Priok Port. This means that the crime scene is Tanjung
Priok, which comes within the jurisdiction of the North Jakarta
District Court," presiding judge Humuntal Pane said.

The court also rejected Nurdin's contention that smuggling did
not involve the crime of corruption.

Nurdin's lawyers said they would appeal the decision, which
was handed down after being postponed twice due to claims by
Nurdin that he was too ill to attend the pretrial hearing.

Nurdin, a businessman who also chairs the Federation of
Primary Cooperative Associations (Inkud) has been charged with graft
in connection with the smuggling of 63,520 tons of white sugar
worth Rp 209.6 billion into Indonesia. --Antara