Chief Justice Anwar Usman pronouncing the ruling for the withdrawal of the judicial review petition of Law No. 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of the Criminal Acts of Corruption, Tuesday (6/27/2023). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) handed down a ruling to grant the withdrawal of the judicial review petition of Law No. 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of the Criminal Acts of Corruption on Tuesday, June 27, 2023. The Decree No. 57/PUU-XXI/2023 was read out by Chief Justice Anwar Usman. The petition was filed by Maria Goretty Batlayeri, a civil servant (PNS) who heads the Tanimbar Islands Regency Tourism Office.

The Court held a preliminary hearing on June 12 and a panel gave their advice following Article 39 of the Constitutional Court Law, after which the Petitioner was given the opportunity to revise the petition. Next, on Monday, June 19, the Court received an email from the Petitioner, who requested to withdraw the petition. One of the Petitioner’s legal counsels confirmed this withdrawal verbally at a hearing on Wednesday, June 21. Following Article 35 paragraphs (1) and (2) of the Constitutional Court Law, the justices had decided at a justice deliberation meeting to declare the withdrawal request legally reasonable. As such, the Petitioner cannot refile the a quo petition.

“[The Court] decrees to grant the withdrawal of the Petitioner’s petition; declares that the petition in case No. 57/PUU-XXI/2023 on the judicial review of Law No. 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of the Criminal Acts of Corruption against the 1945 Constitution withdrawn; declares the Petitioner unable to refile the a quo petition; orders the Court’s Chief Registrar to record the withdrawal of petition No. 57/PUU-XXI/2023 in the electronic constitutional case registration book (e-BRPK) and to return copies of the petition to the Petitioner,” Chief Justice Anwar Usman read out.

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At the preliminary hearing on Monday, June 12, the Petitioner asserted that the word “not” and the clause “the compensation of state financial or economic losses is only one of the mitigating factors” had impacted her constitutional rights when the investigators of the Tanimbar Islands Regency Prosecution Office in Article 4 of the Anti-Corruption Law raised the Petitioner’s case from inquiry to investigation. She argued that investigators had announced the investigation into her alleged corruption while she was the secretary of the Tanimbar Islands Regency Financial and Asset Management Agency or BPKAD and made her a suspect for misappropriating the state finance for the regency’s BPKAD official visit budgets in 2020.

The regency’s inspectorate did not conduct calculation of actual losses to the state during the investigation, but the Petitioner already compensated for said loss. The word “not” in Article 4 of the Anti-Corruption Law has incited fear and anxiety in the Petitioner who, as the regency BPKAD secretary, only acted based on her superiors’ order. Therefore, the Petitioner requested that the Court declare Article 4 of the Anti-Corruption Law and its elucidation unconstitutional and the word/clause “not” and “the compensation of state financial or economic losses is only one of the mitigating factors” in violation of Article 1 paragraph (3), Article 28G paragraph (1), Article 8D paragraph (1), and Article 28I paragraphs (4) and (5) of the 1945 Constitution. 

Author       : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Raisa Ayudhita
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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