The Serang District Court on 12 January 2023, sentenced two defendants of fraud for 2 (two) years imprisonment. The two defendants, Tata Suparta and Mirza Alhaliq, were previously prosecuted by the Banten High Prosecutor Office for 3 (three) years and 6 (six) months imprisonment for a series of fraudulent acts committed from December 2021 to January 2022. Both have caused losses to a start-up company engaged in financing the purchase of four-wheeled vehicles amounting to approximately IDR 3.5 billion.
The start-up company has appointed Donny A. Sheyoputra from the SHEYOPUTRA Law Office to carry out a series of investigation on how the two perpetrators committed their crimes. Based on the results of the investigation and company’s internal audit, it was found that the two had worked together for two months to commit fraud and/or embezzlement of money resulting from the sales and purchases of more than 30 (thirty) used cars financed by the start-up company. Due to the significant amount of losses occurred during that short period of time, the company decided to file complaint report against the two perpetrators to the Banten Regional Police on 3 March 2022.
The investigation carried out by the Banten Regional Police continued and produced sufficient evidence to escalate the status of Tata Suparta and Mirza as Crime Suspects. They were detained since August 2022. Two months later, Tata Suparta, who is the owner of the Tata Jaya Motor showroom in Serang, and Mirza Alhaliq, were brought to the Serang District Court for criminal hearing. On 25 October 2022, both of them were charged for embezzlement (which breaches Article 372 of the Penal Code) or fraud (which breaches Article 378 of the Penal Code).
During the trial, the Defendant, who were not represented by any legal counsel, admitted their crimes. After 2 (two) months hearing to review testimonies from some witnesses, the Panel of Judges at the Serang District Court eventually found that the actions of the two Defendants met all criminal elements of fraud as stated in the Article 378 of the Penal Code. The Panel of Judges therefore imposed a prison sentence of 2 (two) years calculated from the duration of the detention period that the two Defendants have served since August 2022.
Responding to the decision of the Serang District Court, Donny A. Sheyoputra stated, “On behalf of our clients who have become victims in this case, we would like to express our gratitude to the Panel of Judges who have imposed criminal sanctions against the two Defendants. They harmed our clients’ business but at the same time they also tarnished the image of this country. The Indonesian Government has made every effort to protect foreign investors like our clients in order to create jobs for the Indonesians. Obviously, this is contrary to the expectation of foreign investors. Therefore, it is hoped that the criminal penalty imposed by the Panel of Judges will have a deterrent effect for them.”
The decision of the Serang District Court is now final and binding as the the Public Prosecutor and the two Defendants did not file any appeal to the Banten High Court.
