Jakarta court delays extortion trial of young businessman until Aug. 10
Judges are waiting on a pretrial ruling, so prosecutors have not yet read the indictment in the first hearing.
The Central Jakarta District Court has postponed the first hearing in the alleged extortion and threats case involving a young businessman identified as VLC until Aug. 10, 2026. The panel of judges held off on examining the substance of the case because a pretrial motion filed by the defendant, Bangun Paulus Tudungta, is still pending. Wednesday's hearing had initially been scheduled for the reading of the prosecutor's indictment. Defense counsel Iskandar Halim Munthe said the delay is routine when a pretrial petition has not yet been decided. On the victim's side, Refly Harun said the alleged extortion began after VLC withdrew Rp19,25 million from the defendant's account, then was allegedly threatened with CCTV footage when trying to return the money and asked to hand over cash. He said the victim later transferred Rp30 million and then Rp50 million before filing a report with Polres Metro Jakarta Pusat on March 3, 2026.