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