KPK arrests Medan court judge Merry Purba

Jakarta (AntaraNews Lampung) - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has put anti corruption judge of the Medan district court Merry Purba in detention cell on charge of graft.

Earlier on Wednesday KPK named Mr Purba a corruption suspect receiving bribe from a business leader.

Merry Purba will stay in detention for at least 20 days, KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah said here on Wednesday.

KPK already named four suspects in the same case including Merry and Medan court secretary Helpandi (H) as the receivers of bribe, Tamin Sukardi (TS) and Hadi Setiawan (HS) from the business charged with bribing Merry. Hadi Setiawan, however, is still at large.

Tamin Sukardi is the owner of PT Erni Putra Terari.

Merry denied to have been involved in the graft case, saying,"No , (I) has received nothing."

He said he did not know and never met with Tamin before he had legal case at the Medan district court.

"No, did not know and never met him outside court," he added.

When asked if there are other judges of the district court receiving bribe , Merry said he did not know.

Merry was charged with receiving S$280,000 (around Rp3 billion) related to decision on corruption case with Tamin Sukardi as the defendant.

Tamin Sukardi was named a suspect in the case over land used by state plantation company PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) II.

Tamin was charged with selling 74 hectares of 126 hectares of state land to PT Agung Cemara Realty (ACR) at a price of Rp236.2 billion.

In the case the court sentenced Tamin to 6 years's imprisonment with a fine of Rp500 million. The verdict was less than 10 years jail term demanded by public prosecutor, KPK chief Agus Rahardjo told reporters here on Wednesday.

The prosecutor also asked the court to order for the return of the land to the state but the court decided that the land remained belonging to PT ACR .

Merry is one of the court judges giving dissenting opinion on the verdict.

Chairman of the court judges in the case was Wahyu Prasetyo Wibowo, who earlier triggered a controversy when he sentenced a woman, Meliana with a jail term over insult of religion.

Meliana from Tanjung Balai, who was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment appealed the verdict.

"Before the suspects were caught red handed, S$150,000 were already given to judge Merry Purba. The money was part of a total of S$280,000 given by Tamin Sukartdi via Helpandi on Auguist 24 , 2018 at the JW Marriot Hotel in Medan," Agus said.

"KPK wants to warn Hadi Setiawan, who is charged with involvement in the corruption case, to be cooperative and report to KPK," Agus said.