Today’s Legal Enlightenment (Tuesday, 04 October 2022) – THE ACTIONS ARE NOT ABUSE OF AUTHORITY BECAUSE THEY WERE PERFORMED BASED ON THE PRESIDENT’S INSTRUCTION
(THE CASE OF AKBAR TANJUNG)
“Considering the matters described above, the Supreme Court opines that the actions of the Defendant / the party appointing the Defendant to carry out the procurement and distribution of basic necessities by handing over the Bulog non-budgetary funds are not a form of “abuse of the authority, opportunities, or facilities available to them,” bearing in mind the following considerations:
- Whereas the actions of Defendant I, who received non-budgetary money in the amount of Rp. 40 billion then handed it over to Defendant II to buy groceries were carried out to fulfill the President’s Instruction based on the results of a limited meeting between President B.J. Habibie, Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare and Poverty Alleviation, Ministry of Trade, and Minister of State Secretariat regarding the “state of emergency for the act of procuring and distributing basic necessities.”
- Whereas according to the opinion of the expert witness, Prof. Dr. ISMAIL SUNNY, S.H., presidential instructions issued in times of emergency may deviate from their own provisions. Even in a state of emergency, based on Article 12 of the 1945 Constitution, the President can take any action as a policy. Therefore, the Defendant, as the Minister of State Secretariat tasked to support the President’s policy, is obliged to implement the policy. In an emergency, we cannot expect to take procedures from the methods in normal circumstances.”
→ Supreme Court Decision No. 572 K/Pid/2003
