NTB High Prosecutor's Office Appeals Acquittal of Three Legislators

The High Prosecutor’s Office of West Nusa Tenggara has filed an appeal against the Corruption Court’s decision at the Mataram District Court, which acquitted three members of the NTB Regional House of Representatives in an alleged gratuity case. Spokesperson for the NTB High Prosecutor’s Office, Harun Al Rasyid, stated in Mataram on Friday that the public prosecutor registered the appeal at the Mataram District Court on Friday at 14.15 Wita. “Today we announce that our legal effort from yesterday, we declared this afternoon at 14.15 Wita, registering, declaring an appeal to the Mataram District Court and we have obtained the appeal deed,” said Harun. Along with the appeal registration, the public prosecutor also submitted a memorandum of appeal. However, the document was rejected by the court. “The reason for the rejection is not yet known; it should have been accepted, as it is part of the legal effort submission,” he said. “So, we are looking at the provisions of Article 244 of the old Criminal Procedure Code and Article 299 of the new Criminal Procedure Code, and as part of a law-abiding society, we are filing this appeal,” he stated. The panel of judges at the Corruption Court at the Mataram District Court, chaired by Dewi Santini, in its verdict on Wednesday (5/8), acquitted three NTB DPRD members, namely Hamdan Kasim, Indra Jaya Usman, and Muhammad Nashib Ikroman alias Acip, of all charges brought by the public prosecutor. In addition to acquitting the three defendants, the panel of judges ordered the public prosecutor to return seized funds amounting to Rp2.6 billion belonging to 15 NTB DPRD members. In this case, the prosecutors argued that the three defendants were proven to have given money to 15 other DPRD members with the aim of influencing their authority or role as state officials. The payment was made under the pretext of asking the 15 recipients not to be involved in the NTB Governor’s directive programme called Desa Berdaya, which utilised regional budget funds of Rp76 billion. For these charges, the prosecutors had sought a prison sentence of 1.5 years for each of the three defendants, a fine of Rp100 million, or a subsidiary sentence of three months’ imprisonment. The prosecutors also demanded an additional payment of replacement money from defendant Indra Jaya Usman amounting to Rp400 million, or a subsidiary sentence of six months’ imprisonment.