Four Defendants Acquitted in PTPN Land Sale Corruption Case to Citraland

The Medan Corruption Court has acquitted four defendants in the corruption case over the sale of assets belonging to PTPN I Regional I (formerly PTPN II) to developer PT Ciputra Land through an operational cooperation scheme with PT Nusa Dua Propertindo. The four defendants acquitted are Imam Subakti, former Director of PT Nusa Dua Propertindo; Askani, former Head of the North Sumatra Regional Office of the National Land Agency (BPN); Abdul Rahim Lubis, former Head of the Deli Serdang District Land Office; and Irwan Perangin-angin, former Director of PTPN II. The verdict was read by a panel of judges chaired by Muhammad Kasim, accompanied by members Yusafrihardi Girsang and Rurita Ningrum in a session at the Cakra Utama courtroom, Corruption Court at the Medan District Court, on Wednesday evening. In its ruling, the panel of judges stated the defendants were not legally and convincingly proven guilty of committing the criminal act of corruption as charged by the public prosecutor in either the first or second alternative indictment. The panel also ordered the restoration of the defendants’ rights, capacity, standing, and dignity, and commanded their immediate release from the state detention centre. Previously, the Public Prosecutor from the North Sumatra High Prosecutor’s Office had sought a sentence of one year and six months’ imprisonment and a fine of Rp500 million, subsidiary to three months’ detention, for each defendant. The prosecutor also demanded a state financial loss compensation payment of Rp263.43 billion from PT Nusa Dua Propertindo, which had already been fully paid into the state treasury via the North Sumatra High Prosecutor’s Office. The sale of the 8,077-hectare PTPN I Regional asset to developer PT Ciputra Land through the operational cooperation scheme with PT Nusa Dua Propertindo attracted significant attention, as the land was developed into the Citraland residential area despite still being classified as a state asset.