Students Protest at Bandung Anti-Corruption Court, Oppose Criminalization in Cianjur Prosecutor's Office
Students held a demonstration at the Corruption Court (Tipikor) at the Bandung District Court on Thursday, February 26.
Several students, members of the Indonesian Law Student Movement (GMHI), criticized the handling of the alleged corruption case involving public street lighting (PJU) in Cianjur Regency in the 2023 fiscal year, which is currently being tried.
GMHI Coordinator, Aldi Ramadan, explained that the Cianjur Prosecutor’s Office’s handling of the PJU case in Cianjur is rife with criminalization.
“There has been criminalization by the Cianjur Prosecutor’s Office in handling the alleged corruption case of public street lighting (PJU) in Cianjur Regency in the 2023 fiscal year. A civil case is being forced into a criminal one,” he said.
He believes that the Cianjur Prosecutor’s Office is forcing the case despite the fact that there are no issues based on the results of an official audit.
“The Cianjur Prosecutor’s Office did not refer to the results of the BPK (Supreme Audit Agency) which stated that the Cianjur PJU case in 2023 was clear because it was only an administrative error,” he said.
According to Aldi, this case originated from a contract error made by the Cianjur Regency Transportation Department. It should have been an e-catalog contract, but the Transportation Department included it in a construction work contract.
Due to this administrative error, the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has asked for the excess payment to be returned to state funds.
“The results of the investigation by the West Java Police were the same, this is an administrative issue. The money has been returned,” he said.
However, he continued, instead of referring to the official auditors (BPK and the results of the West Java Police investigation), the Cianjur Prosecutor’s Office instead involved external, unofficial auditors to strengthen the allegation that this case should be a criminal matter. Not only that, the indictment by the Cianjur Prosecutor’s Office clearly shows that they are forcing the case.
“From a project value of around IDR 10 billion, the Cianjur Prosecutor’s Office stated that there was a loss to the state of IDR 9 billion. In fact, the PJU (lamps and physical/construction) has been installed 100% and the benefits have been felt by the community. So how can there be a loss of IDR 9 billion from a total project value of IDR 10 billion, when all the lamps have been installed and the benefits are being felt by the community. This clearly looks like fabrication or criminalization,” Aldi said.
On the other hand, according to him, a similar incident occurred regarding the procurement of PJU in 2022 which also had the same specifications and used the same contract, namely construction, as in 2023, but it was not questioned even though the work was not 100% complete.
“But in 2023, the work was 100% complete, it was functioning, it had been inspected by the BPK and there was a return to state funds because there was an administrative error, but it was prosecuted with irrational demands,” he said.
For this reason, he asked the Prosecutor’s Office to stop fabricating this case so that it can provide legal certainty to the community.
“We ask the Prosecutor’s Office, especially the Cianjur Prosecutor’s Office, not to be arbitrary in handling corruption reports. And it turns out that in handling the law, the prosecutor’s office is no better than the police, which is currently being highlighted,” he said.
In this case, the panel of judges at the Bandung District Court’s Anti-Corruption Court sentenced each of the former head of the Cianjur Transportation Department, Dadan Ginanjar, and a private individual, Ahmad Muhtarom, to 3.5 years in prison on Thursday, February 26.
Ahmad Muhtarom’s legal counsel, Rolan Parasian Nainggolan, explained that they will continue to pursue legal efforts in responding to the verdict.
“We appreciate the process of the trial and what the judge said today,” he said.
He expressed disappointment because the judge’s verdict was considered unfair given that the handling by the Public Prosecutor (JPU) of the Cianjur District Prosecutor’s Office was too forced.
He explained that the work package in question was purely procurement of goods, not construction work as assessed by the Public Prosecutor of the Cianjur District Prosecutor’s Office.
“It was acknowledged by the PPK (Pejabat Pembuat Komitmen Dishub Cianjur) at the time, that there was indeed an administrative error,” he said.
As in the facts of the trial, there was no evidence that there was a loss to the state. All points of public street lighting have been completed according to the work contract. The poles and lamps have been installed according to the points that have been determined.
Regarding the deposit of IDR 1 billion made by the defendant’s family, it was for the deposit for the suspension of detention. “So it is not as money for a criminal act,” he said.
However, the Public Prosecutor tried to make that money part of the criminal act committed by AM. Rolan remains confident that his client, as a private individual who worked on the project package, was not at fault in this case.
The ranks of the Cianjur Police and the Pagelaran Police Station began to renovate the house of Grandma Encih. With the help of local residents, the renovation of the house was carried out in a mutual cooperation manner.
Of the 3 GPMs that have been held, rice, chicken eggs and cooking oil are the commodities that have been most purchased by the community.
Students began to feel symptoms of nausea and dizziness after eating the MBG menu that was distributed on Wednesday, February 25.
The death of an elementary school student in NTT due to not having writing tools, made Reborn Indonesia move to donate books and glasses in Garut
The Tasikmalaya Regency Government, West Java, is known to be carrying out the conversion of agricultural land (LBS) of up to 500 hectares each year and changing it into residential areas.
Based on information gathered from the Kepuh Market, Kuningan District/Regency, the price of red chili is now at IDR 35 thousand to IDR 45 thousand per kilogram depending on the type
Even though the queue looks long, the atmosphere looks orderly. Residents come according to the schedule they had “contested” earlier through the PINTAR application belonging to Bank Indonesia (BI).
As many as six residents of Cianjur Regency, West Java, became victims of human trafficking.