When Amsal Sitepu Takes His Case to Parliament: Commission III Goes All Out, Prosecutors Insist State Suffered Losses

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Videographer Amsal Christy Sitepu has lodged a complaint about the injustice he has faced after being demanded a two-year prison sentence in the alleged markup case of the village profile video production project in Karo Regency, North Sumatra.

Amsal is accused of causing a state loss of up to Rp 202 million due to this price inflation.

Amsal complained to Commission III of the House of Representatives via Zoom from North Sumatra, rather than attending directly at the DPR Building in Senayan, Jakarta.

Chairman of Commission III of the DPR, Habiburokhman, stated that his side would go all out to support Amsal.

Amsal expressed his gratitude for the support from the members of parliament.

In fact, Commission III of the DPR also submitted a request for the suspension of Amsal’s detention, with them acting as guarantors.

Habiburokhman asked the panel of judges to consider an acquittal for Amsal.

However, on the other side, the prosecution remains adamant that Amsal harmed the state’s finances.

This case originated from the village profile video production project in Karo Regency, which eventually led to legal proceedings.

Through his company, CV Promiseland, he submitted proposals to 20 villages in four sub-districts, namely Tiganderket, Tigabinanga, Tigapanah, and Namanteran.

In the proposals, the cost of video production was set at around Rp 30 million per village.

The legal issue arose when the proposals were allegedly prepared not in accordance with the actual conditions or experienced markup.

From the analysis results of the auditors from the Karo Regency Inspectorate, the video production cost was assessed to be around Rp 24.1 million per village.