Parliament's Commission III to Hold Hearing on Alleged Video Budget Markup Case Involving Amsal Today
Chairman of Commission III of the House of Representatives (DPR), Habiburokhman, stated that the commission handling legal affairs will hold a public opinion hearing on the case ensnaring videographer Amsal Christy Sitepu. The meeting will take place on Monday, 30 March 2026, at 09:00 WIB.
Amsal is the Director of CV Promiseland, accused of inflating the budget (markup) for promotional video services for several villages in Karo Regency, North Sumatra. Habiburokhman said that Commission III of the DPR needs to hold the meeting because some consider the case odd, as creative work does not have a fixed price standard.
“This RDPU is being held to address the many demands from the public who consider the case to be coloured by injustice,” said the Gerindra Party politician in a written statement on Sunday, 29 March 2026.
Furthermore, he reminded law enforcement that authorities must prioritise substantive justice over mere formal justice. According to him, this is a mandate from the implementation of the new Criminal Code (KUHP) and Code of Criminal Procedure (KUHAP), which will take effect in 2026.
“On the other hand, the priority of eradicating corruption should be maximising the recovery of state financial losses in major cases,” said Habiburokhman.
Cited from Antara, the Karo District Prosecutor’s Office is demanding a two-year prison sentence for Amsal, a fine of Rp 50 million subsidiary imprisonment, and payment of replacement money amounting to Rp 202 million for the village profile video project funded by village funds.
In his defence note read at the Corruption Court at the Medan District Court on 4 March, Amsal asked the panel of judges to acquit him, considering the Public Prosecutor’s allegations unproven legally and convincingly. Amsal stated that he had no malicious intent to commit corruption.
He emphasised that all video production work, including concepts, ideas, editing, and microphone use, is an integral part of the audiovisual production process, not markup as alleged.