Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison, Kery Riza Hopes for Clemency from Prabowo

The beneficial owner of PT Navigator Katulistiwa, Kerry Adrianto Riza, has submitted a clemency petition to President Prabowo Subianto regarding the case of alleged corruption in the management of crude oil and refinery products at PT Pertamina. Not only Kerry Riza, but also the other defendants in the case, namely the President Director of PT Orbit Terminal Merak (OTM), Gading Ramadhan Joedo, and the Commissioner of PT Jenggala Maritim Nusantara (JMN), Dimas Werhaspati, have submitted similar requests to Prabowo.

Kerry’s legal counsel, Hafid Kance, stated that the clemency petition letter had been delivered to the Ministry of State Secretariat (Kemensetneg) on Wednesday afternoon (1/4). “It is true that we have submitted clemency petitions for Mr Kerry, Mr Dimas, and Mr Gading to the President,” Hafid said when contacted on Thursday (2/4).

The petition letter was also sent to Supreme Court Chief Justice Sunarto, Attorney General ST Burhanuddin, Minister of Law Supratman Andi Agtas, Judicial Commission Chairman Abdul Chair Ramadhan, House Commission III Chairman Habiburokhman, National Human Rights Commission Chairman Anis Hidayah, and Jakarta High Court Chief Nugroho Setiadji.

In this case, the Jakarta Corruption Court panel of judges on Friday (27/2) in the early hours sentenced Kerry Riza to 15 years in prison, a fine of Rp 1 billion, and restitution of Rp 2.9 trillion. Meanwhile, Gading and Dimas were each sentenced to 13 years in prison and a fine of Rp 1 billion. Against that verdict, Kerry Riza and his co-defendants are pursuing an appeal to the Jakarta High Court.

Hafid explained the reasons for submitting the clemency petition to Prabowo. He said that Kerry Riza and his team respect and support Prabowo’s efforts to eradicate corruption carried out en masse by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung). However, Kerry Riza’s legal team is concerned that the campaign is being conducted unlawfully, merely chasing targets, thus punishing innocent people.

“We are submitting this petition due to criminalisation, serious irregularities, violations of due process of law, and miscarriage of justice in the Pertamina corruption case. The trial process was just a formality to meet punishment targets,” he said.

Hafid claimed there was an alleged neglect of the due process of law principle or fair legal process. He said that Kerry’s residence was searched by the Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung), accompanied by the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), without an official summons on 24 February 2025. Kerry was then taken for examination that lasted less than 3 hours and immediately designated as a suspect and detained at 23:45 WIB.

“A similar process was experienced by Gading and Dimas,” he said.

In addition, Hafid highlighted the narrative of adulterated fuel with state losses amounting to trillions pushed by Kejagung at the start of the case. However, that narrative did not appear at all in the official indictment read on 13 October 2025.

“The indictment shifted to charges of collusion in fuel terminal and vessel rental contracts with losses of Rp 2.9 trillion, US$ 9.8 million, and Rp 1 billion,” he revealed.

Not only that, Hafid also stated that the trial process for his client was conducted inhumanely. Most of the trial sessions lasted more than 11 hours, even until 04:00 WIB.

“In the last two months, the defendants were given less than 7.5 hours to present all defence witnesses and experts. The judges were also handling other cases simultaneously, so they did not have enough time to study the files,” he said.

Furthermore, Hafid claimed that the panel of judges’ considerations merely copied the indictment and prosecutor’s demands without considering the trial facts.

Hafid gave an example: the testimony of witness Irawan Prakoso, who was never presented, was used as the main basis for allegations of intervention in the fuel terminal and vessel rental process at Pertamina. Meanwhile, witnesses such as former President Director of PT Pertamina Patra Niaga Alfian Nasution and former Director of Marketing and Trading at PT Pertamina Hanung Budya Yuktyanta and Alfian Nasution, who testified under oath denying any pressure, were ignored in the judges’ considerations.

Not only that, Hafid stated that the implementation of legal mandates and instructions was instead deemed by the prosecutor and judges as unlawful acts. This statement refers to Kerry’s meeting with Bank Mandiri parties and the addition of a “domestic transportation needs” clause in the vessel rental process by Pertamina. The prosecutors accused both as collusion.

“In fact, both are implementations of Bank Mandiri’s KYC (know your customer) and the cabotage principle in accordance with Law No. 17 of 2008 on Shipping. There was no violation of tender procedures,” he said.

Furthermore, Hafid said, the Merak fuel terminal accused by the prosecutors of harming the state is actually a national vital object that is still operating to this day. He said that the fuel terminal operates 24 hours and is still used by PT Pertamina until 2034 with a contract that is still valid. Therefore, Hafid refutes the allegations of state financial losses of Rp 2.9 trillion.

“The calculation of losses of Rp 2.9 trillion uses the total loss method, whereas PT Pertamina obtained profits of US$ 524 million and efficiencies of Rp 8.7 trillion,” he emphasised.

In addition, Hafid stated that Law No. 16 of 2025 on State-Owned Enterprises has decriminalised business losses of SOEs by separating SOE assets from state finances. That law also protects directors’ decisions through the business judgement rule.

“The verdict (for Kerry Riza and co-defendants) was issued after this law took effect, but the judges ignored the lex mitior principle,” he said.

Hafid also questioned the calculation of state losses, which he considered merely to legitimise the investigators’ wishes. This is because the loss calculation was carried out by the Audit Board of Indonesia (BPK) after the suspect designation, without proper confirmation to PT Pertamina.