Kerry Riza Reads Defence Plea, Claims Prosecution Criminalises Business Policy

Jakarta — Muhammad Kerry Adrianto Riza, beneficial owner of PT Orbit Terminal Merak (OTM), read his defence plea in the trial concerning alleged corruption in the management of crude oil and refinery products at PT Pertamina, held at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Thursday, 19 February 2026. Kerry had previously been sentenced to a demand of 18 years’ imprisonment and ordered to pay Rp 13.4 trillion in restitution.

In his defence plea, Kerry stated that the prosecution’s demands were exceedingly harsh in terms of both the length of the sentence and the amount of restitution imposed upon him. However, when examined objectively, the demands were merely assumptions made by the public prosecutors.

He emphasised that the indictment simply repeated the initial investigative framework and the narrative contained in the charge sheet. In their demands, the prosecutors disregarded the facts that emerged during four months of court proceedings.

“When examined objectively, the demands essentially repeat the initial investigative framework and the indictment narrative without substantively responding to the facts revealed during approximately four months of trial proceedings. It is as though the examination of witnesses and experts from October 2025 to February 2026 never took place,” Kerry said.

In the charge sheet, Kerry noted, the prosecutors were unable to explain why not a single witness presented during the trial testified that he had given orders or intervened in Pertamina’s procurement process. There was also no evidence of fund flows or mens rea — criminal intent — on Kerry’s part in the case.

“The element of abuse of authority is also irrelevant because I am neither a state official nor a decision-maker at Pertamina. Without proven personal culpability, the prosecution’s demands lose their legal foundation,” he said.

Beyond that, Kerry also questioned the Rp 13.4 trillion restitution demand imposed on him. He stated that the figure was not supported by any independent analysis demonstrating a direct causal link to his actions in the case.

“Without genuine causality, that figure is merely an assumption,” he said.

Conversely, Kerry stated that the trial proceedings had revealed facts regarding the benefits of the fuel terminal leased by Pertamina. Rather than causing state financial losses as alleged by the prosecutors, Kerry asserted that PT OTM’s fuel terminal had in fact generated cost efficiencies in imports and logistics totalling approximately Rp 16.7 trillion.