Nurdin Halid walks free

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In what was seen as a new blow to the national anticorruption drive, a court here acquitted businessman Nurdin Halid of all graft charges on Thursday.

The unexpected decision was issued by the South Jakarta District Court, although prosecutors had demanded that the defendant be sentenced to 20 years in prison, fined Rp 30 million (US$3,157) and return the embezzled money.

Nurdin, who is Golkar politician from South Sulawesi, the home province of Vice President Jusuf Kalla, was charged with misusing Rp 169.7 billion in state funds allocated for the distribution of cooking oil from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

Dissatisfied with the court verdict, the prosecutors said they would appeal to the Supreme Court.

"If discussed it comprehensively, we are sure that Nurdin engaged in graft. But the panel of judges thought otherwise. Therefore, we will appeal against the verdict with the Supreme Court," prosecutor Arnold Angkou was quoted by Antara as saying after Thursday's trial.

He argued that Nurdin, who chairs the Indonesian Distribution Cooperatives (KDI), should have been convicted of corruption charges when he decided to delay the payment of the funds to Bulog.

But the judges led by I Wayan Rena Wardhana found that what the defendant had done was not against the anticorruption laws.

The court argued that the KDI's decision to use Bulog's funds to procure and distribute cooking oil ahead of Ramadhan and Idul Fitri was not in violation of the law, because it was an official assignment from the government.

"The government did not clearly mention the source of money to be used (by the KDI) in providing cooking oil stock for Ramadhan and Idul Fitri," the chief judge said.

Nurdin's acquittal was met with criticism by members of the House of Representatives, who said the court verdict was another blow to the national corruption eradication campaign.

"The decision ... was not in line with the government's efforts to eradicate corruption, bribery and judicial mafia," said Anhar Nasution from House Commission III for legal affairs.

Quoted by Antara, he expressed disappointment over the unpopular verdict.

"People have clearly seen that Nurdin Halid was strongly involved in the corruption scandal. But why did the court let him walk?" Anhar said.