TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Military Judge Col. Deddy Suryanto said that he was insinuated by his colleagues for banging the gavel hard when reading the verdict for Teddy Hernayadi, former head of finance division at the Defense Ministry in relation to a graft case surrounding the procurement of primary weapons defense system.
“I was criticized for banging the gavel so hard,” Deddy said on Thursday, December 1, 2016, at the Jakarta Military Court.
Deddy admitted that he was carried away when handing down a life sentence to Teddy on Wednesday, November 30, 2016. The panel of judges said that the sentence was appropriate for Teddy.
Earlier, Teddy’s trial was held publicly at the Jakarta Military Court. Teddy was proven guilty of embezzling US$12.4 million from the Defense Ministry’s budget.
The panel of judges also ordered Teddy to return the fund to the government. However, Teddy was allowed to file an appeal against the verdict.
Deddy said that he read touching article on a national newspaper, a few days before the trial. The article was about the economic crisis that hit Indonesia back in 1998. He pointed out that Indonesia has not been able to escape from the economic crisis since then.
“One of the causes of the economic crisis is corruption,” Deddy argued.
Deddy added that corruption also caused Indonesia’s competitiveness to be below other countries’. Deddy revealed the lack of primary weapons defense system has a significant impact on the Indonesian Military.
“If the primary weapons defense system is good, we can capture illegal fishers in Indonesian waters. Corruption is like a cancer,” Deddy, who once served in a military operation in Aceh, said.
According to Deddy, the article has motivated him to take firm actions against corruption cases, particularly those in the interior of the Indonesian Military.
Deddy explained that the graft case involving Teddy had taken a lot of time, since there 55 witnesses who borrowed money from Teddy. Unfortunately, Deddy said, many of the witnesses failed to show up at the trial.
In addition, Deddy said that the deadline to settle the case, since the suspect’s detention time would expire.
“If no verdict had been made on Wednesday, the suspect would have walked free,” he said.
MITRA TARIGAN
