Videographer Corruption Case Involving Budget Mark-Up: DPR's Commission III Steps In

Indonesia’s House of Representatives Commission III has stated it will hold a Public Hearing (RDPU) regarding the case of Amsal Sitepu, a videographer accused of corruption through “mark-up” of the budget for a village video project in Karo Regency, North Sumatra.

Commission III Chairman Habiburokhman said the RDPU is being held in response to numerous public demands that view the case as tainted by injustice. The RDPU is scheduled for Monday, 30 March 2026.

“Commission III reminds law enforcement that the spirit of the new Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure is how the legal process produces substantive justice, not just mere formalistic justice,” said Habiburokhman in Jakarta on Sunday.

He stated that Amsal is suspected of inflating the budget, even though videography work is creative labour whose prices do not have certain standards.

On the other hand, he also reminded law enforcement officials that the priority of eradicating corruption should be maximising the recovery of state financial losses in major cases.

Previously, Amsal Sitepu was demanded a two-year prison sentence by prosecutors in the alleged corruption case of a project in a village in Karo Regency, North Sumatra. The prosecutors also imposed a fine of 50 million rupiah, with the provision that if not paid, it would be replaced with three months’ imprisonment.

Amsal also expressed his response to the case ensnaring him on his Instagram account. From his case, he said that the current legal condition is not good.