angerang District Court in Banten rejected on Tuesday a lawsuit filed by the owners of the Alfamart minimart chain against the Public Information Commission (KIP) and Mustolih Siradj, a customer who had previously demanded access to the report of the company’s use of customer donations collected from small change.
Mustolih filed a complaint to the KIP last year after PT Sumber Alfaria Trijaya, through its Alfamart shops, asked customers to donate their small change ranging from Rp 100 (0.1 US cents) to Rp 500 but refused to elaborate on where the money went.
According to the court’s panel of judges, an institution like the KIP cannot be involved in such a lawsuit. However, they did not discuss KIP’s demand that PT Sumber Alfaria Trijaya disclose its records on Alfamart customer donations. The judges also ordered the plaintiff to cover the case fee of Rp 506,000.
The company’s attorney Yusril Ihza Mahendra questioned the ruling. “If the KIP cannot be sued, [the commission’s] decisions could be arbitrary,” he said. “The ruling has not yet touched on the substance [of the case]. Don’t consider this is a victory for Mustolih.”
“There is not a single decision by an independent commission that cannot be legally challenged.” said Yusril as quoted by tempo.co.
Meanwhile, the KIP and Mustolih as defendants said they accepted the verdict. (dea)
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