Mataram Corruption Court Acquits NTB DPRD Commission IV Chairman

The Mataram Corruption Court has acquitted Hamdan Kasim, Chairman of Commission IV of the West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Provincial DPRD, in a gratuity case. Presiding Judge Dewi Santini, reading the verdict at the Mataram District Court on Wednesday evening, stated that the defendant was not proven to have given money to three other NTB DPRD members as charged by the public prosecutor. ‘The defendant Hamdan Kasim is acquitted of all charges by the public prosecutor,’ she said. With this decision, the panel of judges also ordered the restoration of the defendant’s rights. The judge further ordered the return of evidence, specifically Rp450 million that had been confiscated by prosecutors from the handover involving the three other members, Harwoto, Lalu Irwan Satriadi, and Nurdin Marjuni. Previously, the public prosecutor had demanded that the judge sentence Hamdan Kasim to 1 year and 6 months in prison and a fine of Rp100 million, subsidiary to three months’ imprisonment.