IO, Jakarta – Former House of Representative (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat – “DPR”) Chairman Setya Novanto has asked for a judicial review (JR) of his e-ID Card corruption case. Regarding this, the KPK Prosecutor has urged the Supreme Court (Mahkamah Agung – “MA”) to reject this request. “We ask that the Panel of Judges of the Supreme Court for Judicial Reviews state that it declines the Application for Judicial Review made by Applicant Setya Novanto,” Corruption Eradication Commission (Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi – “KPK”) Prosecutor Burhanudin in response to Novanto’s JR Application in a hearing at the District Court of Central Jakarta, Jalan Bungur Besar Raya, Jakarta, on Tuesday (10/09/2019).
The KPK Prosecutor merely read out the summaries of the response for the Request for a Judicial Review. He said that there has been neither novum or new mitigating evidence, nor error of the judges in the case against Novanto. “According to the above explanation, we hereby opine that the issues described by the JR Applicant in the form of his Application do not have any grounds as indicated in Article 263 Paragraph 2 letter a and letter c,” he said.
Furthermore, Novanto has already accepted the judgment at the first level in the Corruption Court of Jakarta; therefore, the judgment already has permanent legal power. If Novanto was dissatisfied with the judgment in the first instance he could have submitted an Appeal, but he did not do so. “The JR Applicant should have made the legal effort of an appeal, but unfortunately he did not make use of his rights and accepted the judgment of the first instance,” the Prosecutor said. “The failure to exercise his rights to either appeal or cessation is simply a ruse of the JR Applicant to avoid a longer period of imprisonment.”
Setya Novanto’s legal counsel, Maqdir Ismail, stated that the Application for Judicial Review was submitted because novum, judicial error and conflicts between the points of the judgment were noted. He further stated that the essence of the novum is related to the untruth of Novanto having received any money, whether directly or through a money changer. The middlemen giving out the money in the JR documents were said to be the Director of PT Murakabi Sejahtera, Irvanto Hendra Pambudi Cahyo; President Director of PT Quadra Solution, Anang Sugiana Sudiharjo; and entrepreneur Made Oka Masagung. “We are going to prove that Setya Novanto never received the USD 7.3 million in the case,” he said.
Maqdir further disputes the erroneous judgment made by the judges when considering the charges. He stated that the judges should have charged Novanto for violation of regulations concerning gratification. “He should not have been charged with violation or law or abuse of authority. There are separate articles regulating gratification,” he said.
Based on the evidence, Maqdir hopes that the JR Panel of Judges can declare that his client is absolved of all legal charges. “I hope that the judges can look into this case properly, because no matter what it is impossible to always charge a person with violation of Article 2 Paragraph 1 or Paragraph 3 concerning bribery, while they (the ones being charged) do not have the authority to accept bribes,” he said.
Setya Novanto is proven to have violated the provisions of Article 3 of Law Number 31 of 1999 as amended in Law Number 20 of 2001 concerning the Eradication of the Crime of Corruption in conjunction with the Article 55 Paragraph (1) Point 1 of the Criminal Code. He was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment and a fine of IDR 500 million minus three months’ imprisonment by the Panel of Judges of the Corruption Court of Jakarta. Furthermore, he was sentenced to pay a settlement of USD 7.3 million minus the IDR 5 billion he has submitted to KPK Investigators, minus 2 years’ imprisonment. The Judges have also imposed the additional punishment, revoking his rights to hold any public office for 5 years following his release from imprisonment. (des)