Marcella Santoso faces 17-year prison sentence in CPO "acquittal" bribery case
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Advocate Marcella Santoso has been charged with 17 years' imprisonment in connection with alleged bribery to engineer acquittal (ontslag) verdicts 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 in 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 charges at the Corruption Court of the Central Jakarta District Court on Wednesday.
In addition to imprisonment, prosecutors demanded that Marcella be fined Rp600 million, with the provision that failure to pay would result in a subsidiary sentence of 150 days' imprisonment.
Furthermore, Marcella faces an additional penalty in the form of Rp21.6 billion in restitution payments, with a subsidiary sentence of eight years' imprisonment should she fail to pay.
Regarding Marcella's professional status, the prosecution also requested that the panel of judges order her advocate organisation to permanently disbar her.
Before submitting the charges, prosecutors considered several aggravating factors, namely that Marcella failed to support the government's programme to establish clean governance free from corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN).
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 bribery as the bribe-giver and has not acknowledged her actions," the prosecutor added.
Meanwhile, no mitigating circumstances were considered by prosecutors in formulating their sentencing demands.
In the case, Marcella is accused of providing bribes totalling Rp40 billion and committing money laundering amounting to Rp52.5 billion.
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 of corruption from the CPO case with legitimate earnings.
The laundered funds included US dollar amounts equivalent to Rp28 billion controlled by the defendant Marcella, Ariyanto and Muhammad Syafei. Additionally, the sum included legal fees of Rp24.5 billion.
The bribes were reportedly given by Marcella jointly with Ariyanto and Junaedi Saibih, both advocates, as well as Muhammad Syafei, Head of Social Security Legal at the Wilmar Group.
The money laundering was allegedly committed by Marcella together with Ariyanto and Syafei. Specifically regarding Syafei, the money laundering amounted to Rp28 billion controlled jointly with Marcella and Ariyanto, plus operational funds of Rp411.69 million.
For her actions, Marcella has been charged under Article 6 paragraph (1) letter a, or Article 5 paragraph (1) letter a, or Article 13 in conjunction with Article 18 of the Corruption Eradication Law in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) point 1 of the Criminal Code, and Article 3, or Article 4, or Article 5 of Law Number 8 of 2010 on the Prevention and Eradication of Money Laundering.
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 in 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 charges at the Corruption Court of the Central Jakarta District Court on Wednesday.
In addition to imprisonment, prosecutors demanded that Marcella be fined Rp600 million, with the provision that failure to pay would result in a subsidiary sentence of 150 days' imprisonment.
Furthermore, Marcella faces an additional penalty in the form of Rp21.6 billion in restitution payments, with a subsidiary sentence of eight years' imprisonment should she fail to pay.
Regarding Marcella's professional status, the prosecution also requested that the panel of judges order her advocate organisation to permanently disbar her.
Before submitting the charges, prosecutors considered several aggravating factors, namely that Marcella failed to support the government's programme to establish clean governance free from corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN).
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 bribery as the bribe-giver and has not acknowledged her actions," the prosecutor added.
Meanwhile, no mitigating circumstances were considered by prosecutors in formulating their sentencing demands.
In the case, Marcella is accused of providing bribes totalling Rp40 billion and committing money laundering amounting to Rp52.5 billion.
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 of corruption from the CPO case with legitimate earnings.
The laundered funds included US dollar amounts equivalent to Rp28 billion controlled by the defendant Marcella, Ariyanto and Muhammad Syafei. Additionally, the sum included legal fees of Rp24.5 billion.
The bribes were reportedly given by Marcella jointly with Ariyanto and Junaedi Saibih, both advocates, as well as Muhammad Syafei, Head of Social Security Legal at the Wilmar Group.
The money laundering was allegedly committed by Marcella together with Ariyanto and Syafei. Specifically regarding Syafei, the money laundering amounted to Rp28 billion controlled jointly with Marcella and Ariyanto, plus operational funds of Rp411.69 million.
For her actions, Marcella has been charged under Article 6 paragraph (1) letter a, or Article 5 paragraph (1) letter a, or Article 13 in conjunction with Article 18 of the Corruption Eradication Law in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) point 1 of the Criminal Code, and Article 3, or Article 4, or Article 5 of Law Number 8 of 2010 on the Prevention and Eradication of Money Laundering.