Former Medan Cooperatives Agency Head Benny sentenced to four years in corruption case

The panel of judges at the Corruption Court at the Medan District Court has sentenced former Head of the Medan Cooperatives, SMEs, Industry and Trade Agency, Benny Iskandar Nasution, to four years in prison in the Medan Fashion Festival (MFF) 2024 corruption case.

“Sentencing the defendant Benny Iskandar Nasution to four years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rp200 million, with a subsidiary sentence of 80 days’ imprisonment,” said Presiding Judge Sulhanuddin while reading the verdict at the Medan District Court, North Sumatra, on Wednesday.

In addition to the prison sentence and fine, the panel of judges ordered Benny to pay restitution amounting to Rp897 million.

If the restitution is not paid, Benny will face an additional one year in prison.

The panel of judges found Benny’s actions proven to violate Article 603 in conjunction with Article 20 letter c of Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 18 paragraph (2) letter b of Law Number 20 of 2001 concerning the Eradication of Corruption.

After the verdict was read, the panel of judges gave Benny and the Medan District Prosecutor’s Office public prosecutor seven days to state their position on the ruling.

The sentence was lighter than the demand of the Medan District Prosecutor’s Office, which had previously sought five years’ imprisonment for Benny.

In its demand, Medan District Prosecutor Suryanta Desy also asked that Benny pay a fine of Rp100 million, with a subsidiary sentence of 90 days’ imprisonment, as well as restitution of Rp897 million.

“If the restitution is not paid, it will be replaced with two years’ imprisonment,” said Desy.