Non-active Supreme Court justice Gazalba Saleh was sentenced to ten years in prison after the same bench acquitted him of all charges in May, which was later annulled by the Jakarta High Court.
he Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced non-active Supreme Court justice Gazalba Saleh to 10 years in prison after the judges found him guilty of accepting unlawful gifts pertaining to a case handled by the country’s highest court, as well as laundering illicit money.
During a hearing on Tuesday, the panel of judges, presided by Judge Fahzal Hendri, read out the additional punishment against Gazalba: a fine of Rp 500 million (US$32,177) or an additional four months of imprisonment.
The sentence was lighter than the prosecutor’s demand of 15 years behind bars and a Rp 1 billion fine. The bench also did not grant the prosecutor’s request that Gazalba pay Rp 1.5 billion and US$18,000 in restitution, arguing that the money he received did not incur state losses.
Judges concluded that Gazalba accepted bribes from businessman Jawahirul Fuad in exchange for acquitting the latter from a legal case implicating his company in the unauthorized disposal of hazardous waste. Gazalba’s friend, lawyer Ahmad Riyad, received Rp 650 million from the businessman and handed over Rp 500 million to the justice.
“[Gazalba] received his portion amounting to Rp 500 million in Singaporean dollars, while the remaining Rp 150 million was accepted by Ahmad Riyad. Therefore, this shows that the defendant had accepted unlawful gifts in the case,” Judge Fahzal Hendri said at Tuesday’s hearing, as quoted by kompas.id.
During his tenure at the Supreme Court, Gazalba also handled a case review submitted by former Samarinda Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) member Jaffar Abdul Gafar of the Golkar Party, who stood trial in an illegal levy case in East Kalimantan’s capital city.
When Jaffar filed a case review in 2020, his lawyer Neshawaty Arsyad, who knew Gazalba, was said to have paid a sum of Rp 37 billion pertaining to the petition’s hearing at the Supreme Court.
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