Indonesia’s Supreme Court has overturned the guilty verdicts of German expatriate Gordon G. Hild and his Indonesian wife Ismayanthi, three years after a lower court sentenced them to jail over a disputed investment in their Bali resort.
German Expat and Indonesian Wife Jailed for Bali Resort Swindle
Details of the acquittals were posted on the Supreme Court’s case website and confirmed in a press release issued by the couple’s attorneys.
“[They] were recently released from prison after the Supreme Court verdict was announced. They spent two years imprisoned in difficult conditions and were separated from each other and their four-year-old son. They always maintained their innocence and continued to fight the legal battles for more than four years until justice was done,” said the statement.
Hild and Ismayanthi are the owners of the Kelapa Retreat and Spa resort in Pekutatan village on the southwest coast of Bali.
South Jakarta District Court in February 2017 had sentenced Hild to three years in jail and Ismayanthi to 2.5 years in jail. They were accused of misusing Rp8.5 billion that an Indonesian woman and her Australian husband had invested in the resort.
The Supreme Court issued its verdict on January 20, 2020, but details were not publicized until May 8, 2020. The attorneys said the verdict “clearly states there was no proof of intention to commit fraud or embezzlement.”
The attorneys said the verdict resulted in the dropping of a separate money laundering case pursued against Hild and Ismayanthi. “This later case resulted in the Jakarta National Police shutting the hotel down for the second time in February 2020 until it was re-opened in April 2020 due to the Supreme Court decision. Officials also removed the police line and returned confiscated items due to the termination of the investigation,” said the statement.