Inactive Supreme Court Judge Gazalba Saleh Accused of Receiving Gratuities of up to IDR 62 Billion

Gazalba Saleh was charged with receiving gratification and money laundering. The amount reached IDR 62.8 billion.

KOMPAS/PRAYOGI DWI SULISTYO

The trial of suspended Chief Judge Gazalba Saleh's indictment was held at the Jakarta Corruption Criminal Court on Monday (6/5/2024). Gazalba was charged with accepting bribes and committing money laundering crimes amounting to Rp 62.8 billion.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Supreme Judge inactive Gazalba Saleh, Monday (6/5/2024), underwent his first trial at the Criminal Court Corruption at the Jakarta District Court. Not only was he charged with receiving gratifications of up to IDR 62.8 billion for approximately two years, Gazalba was also accused of money laundering. It is suspected that the money obtained from corruption was used to buy houses, land/buildings, pay off home ownership loans, and precious metals.

The trial with the agenda of reading the indictment in the case of gratification and money laundering with the defendant Gazalba Saleh was chaired by Chief Judge Fahzal Hendri accompanied by Rianto Adam Pontoh and Sukartono. Gazalba was present in the courtroom accompanied by his legal advisor, Aldres Napitupulu.

In the indictment read out in turn by the public prosecutor of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Wawan Yunarwanto, Wahyu Dwi Oktafianto, Arif Rahman Irsady, Heradian Salipi, Nur Haris Arhadi, and Tira Agustina It is known that of the Rp. 68.2 billion in gratuities, Rp. 650 million came from Jawahirul Fuad. Gazalba and Ahmad Riyad received this amount of gratification from June to September 2022.

"The amount of Rp 650 million from Jawahirul Fuad is related to the cassation case No. 3679 K/PID.SUS-LH/2022, which is related to his position (Gazalba) and contradicts his obligations or duties," said Wawan, one of the prosecutors.

KOMPAS/PRAYOGI DWI SULISTYO

The atmosphere at the trial of suspended Supreme Court Justice Gazalba Saleh in the Jakarta Corruption Crime Court on Monday (May 6, 2024). Gazalba was accused of receiving gratuities and committing money laundering amounting to IDR 62.8 billion.

Wawan explained that Fuad, as the owner of UD Logam Jaya business, experienced legal issues related to the management of hazardous and toxic waste (B3) without permission in 2017. Fuad was sentenced to one year in prison by the Jombang District Court, East Java. On appeal, the decision was upheld by the Surabaya High Court, East Java.

Following the decision, Fuad contacted the Village Head of Kedunglosari, Jombang, Mohammad Hani to find a way to handle the case in the cassation level at the Supreme Court. Then, they met with Agoes Ali Masyhuri at the Bumi Sholawat Islamic Boarding School in Sidoarjo, East Java, on July 14, 2021. Agoes is the father of Sidoarjo Regent, Ahmad Muhdlor Ali, who is currently a suspect in a corruption case in the Sidoarjo Regional Tax Service Agency, East Java, investigated by the Corruption Eradication Commission.

Also read: KPK Detains Supreme Court Judge Gazalba Saleh Again

Agoes contacted Ahmad Riyad. Ahmad then checked the Case Tracking Information System (SIPP) regarding Fuad's case and found out the composition of the cassation judges, namely Desnayeti, Yohanes Priyatna, and Gazalba. Ahmad agreed to connect Fuad to Gazalba by providing Rp 500 million.

Ahmad met with Gazalba on July 30, 2022 in Surabaya to convey Fuad's request, which is for a verdict of not guilty. Subsequently, Gazalba asked his assistant, Prasetio Nugroho, to create a case summary for Fuad with the verdict "Defendant Accepted" even though the case files had not yet been submitted to Gazalba's office. Gazalba used this summary as the basis for creating the judge's opinion sheet.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

Supreme Court Judge of the Supreme Court (suspended) Gazalba Saleh being escorted to the detention car after his detention was exposed in the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Jakarta, Thursday (30/11/2023).

On September 6, 2022, Fuad's appeal was granted. Fuad was declared innocent or the charges were deemed unproven. In the same month, Ahmad handed over $18,000 Singaporean dollars or equivalent to Rp 200 million to Gazalba, which was part of Rp 500 million. Ahmad asked Fuad for an additional Rp 150 million.

The amount of money received by Gazalba and Ahmad from Fuad is Rp 650 million. Gazalba received Rp 200 million, while the remaining Rp 450 million was received by Ahmad.

Money laundering

In addition to the gratification from Fuad, the prosecutor also charges Gazalba with receiving Rp 37 billion from convicted port extortion case Jaffar Abdul Gaffar. Gazalba received the money together with lawyer Neshawaty Arsjad to handle Jaffar's case review in 2020. Neshawaty has a family relationship with Gazalba.

On December 28, 2020, The Supreme Court granted Jaffar a review and acquitted him of all charges. Jaffar was free from the 12 year prison sentence previously imposed by the Supreme Court.

Prosecutors also accused Gazalba of receiving IDR 37 billion from the convict in the illegal port levy case, Jaffar Abdul Gaffar.

In addition to that, Gazalba also received other gratifications in the form of 1.1 million Singapore dollars, 181,100 US dollars, and IDR 9.4 billion. With the aim of disguising the origin of his wealth, Gazalba spent, paid, and exchanged the corruptly obtained wealth into various currencies.

Therefore, Gazalba is also accused of committing money laundering crimes along with Edy Ilham Shooleh and Fify Mulyani from 2020 to 2022, including the purchase of a Toyota New Alphard car, as well as land/buildings in Jagakarsa (South Jakarta), Bogor (West Java), and Bekasi (West Java).

Additionally, it is also to pay off the house ownership loan in East Jakarta. Gazalba also exchanged foreign currency into rupiah and bought precious metals.

"It is reasonable to assume that his wealth is the result of corruption, so in order to hide or disguise its origin, the defendant (Gazalba) spent, paid, or exchanged currency as the wealth of other parties, as if it came from legal sources," said the prosecutor.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

The Director of Investigation of the Corruption Eradication Commission, Asep Guntur (left), and the Spokesperson for the KPK, Ali Fikri (right), during a press conference revealing the detention of the Supreme Court Judge from the Supreme Court (non-active), Gazalba Saleh (middle), at the KPK office in Jakarta on Thursday (30/11/2023).

Previously, Gazalba was released on August 1, 2023, after the Judges Council of the Bandung, West Java Corruption Criminal Court declared Gazalba not guilty in a case involving the acceptance of a bribe of Rp 2.2 billion to influence the cassation verdict of the criminal case of Intidana Budiman Gandi Suparman, the chairman of the Cooperative Savings and Loan (KSP) Management. The bribe is suspected to have been given through Theodorus Yosep Parera, the lawyer of Debitor KSP Intidana, Heryanto Tanaka.

The Supreme Court (MA) rejected the cassation filed by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) regarding the acquittal of Gazalba. KPK re-arrested Gazalba on Thursday (30/11/2023) as a suspect for accepting gratification and committing money laundering related to handling a case in the Supreme Court.

Also read: Suspected of Accepting Rp. 2.2 Billion in Bribes, Corruption Eradication Committee Detains Supreme Court Judge Gazalba Saleh

After listening to the charges from the KPK prosecutor, Gazalba stated that he did not understand fully. After consulting with his legal counsel, Gazalba handed over the further process to his legal advisor. Aldres is prepared to file an objection or an exception. Fahzal Hendri gave Gazalba's legal counsel time to read out the exception on Monday (May 13th, 2024).