Lawyer Marcella Santoso Faces 17-Year Prison Sentence in CPO Corruption Acquittal Bribery Case
Jakarta, VIVA – Lawyer Marcella Santoso has been sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment in connection with alleged bribery to engineer an acquittal (ontslag) in a corruption case involving crude palm oil (CPO) export facilities and money laundering offences in 2025.
Public prosecutor Syamsul Bahri Siregar of the Attorney General’s Office demanded that Marcella be found legally and convincingly guilty of committing corruption jointly by bribing judges, as well as committing money laundering in concert with others.
“As stipulated under Article 6 paragraph (1) letter a in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of Corruption, in conjunction with Article 20 letter c and Article 607 paragraph (1) letter a in conjunction with Article 20 letter a of the National Criminal Code,” the prosecutor stated during the reading of the indictment at the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court on Wednesday.
In addition to the prison sentence, prosecutors demanded that Marcella be fined Rp600 million, with the proviso that failure to pay would result in a subsidiary sentence of 150 days’ imprisonment.
Furthermore, Marcella faces an additional penalty in the form of restitution payments totalling Rp21.6 billion, with a subsidiary prison sentence of eight years in the event of non-payment.
Regarding Marcella’s professional status, prosecutors also demanded that the panel of judges order her lawyers’ association to permanently disbar her.
Prior to submitting the charges, prosecutors considered several aggravating factors, namely that Marcella had failed to support the government’s programme to achieve clean governance free from corruption, collusion and nepotism.
Marcella’s actions, which were deemed to have harmed the public, particularly the judicial institution, and to have degraded the dignity of the legal profession, were also considered aggravating factors.
“The defendant Marcella also benefited from the proceeds of the bribery offence as the bribe-giver and has not acknowledged her actions,” the prosecutor added.
Meanwhile, prosecutors found no mitigating circumstances to consider in determining the charges against Marcella.
In this case, Marcella is accused of paying Rp40 billion in bribes and committing Rp52.5 billion in money laundering.
The bribes were allegedly directed at judges handling the CPO corruption case, whilst the money laundering was carried out by using company names for asset ownership and commingling proceeds from the CPO corruption case with legitimate earnings.