AGO vows to put Beddu in prison, lets Amrozi breathe<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) said on Wednesday it would
\nsend convicted corruptor and former chief of the State Logistics
\nAgency (Bulog) Beddu Amang to prison following the Supreme
\nCourt's decision to overturn his appeal.<\/p>\n
But they will give convicted Bali bomber Amrozi at least one
\nmore chance to avert death by firing squad.<\/p>\n
AGO spokesman Kemas Yahya Rahman said that Beddu would
\nimmediately be sent to prison to serve his two-year sentence once
\nthe prosecutors obtained the copy of the Court's verdict.<\/p>\n
"We can do nothing until we obtain the copy from the court.
\nBut I can assure we're going to toss him in the pen despite his
\nrequest for a judicial review and\/or a presidential pardon,"
\nKemas said.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Kemas said that the AGO would allow Amrozi, the
\nfirst convicted man in the Bali bombings, to seek a judicial
\nreview and possibly a presidential pardon after that.<\/p>\n
"That is the procedure for a convict on death row," he
\nexplained.<\/p>\n
Lawyers M. Assegaf and Mahendradatta, who represent Beddu and
\nAmrozi respectively, refused to comment on the next legal
\nmeasures, claiming that it was impossible to do anything at this
\npoint without certain documents.<\/p>\n
"We cannot decide what to do until we obtain a copy of the
\nverdict instructions," Assegaf explained to reporters.<\/p>\n
Mehendradatta, Amrozi's lead lawyer, questioned the verdict --
\neven though he did not in fact have a copy of it -- which came
\nonly five months after the Denpasar High Court upheld Amrozi's
\ndeath sentence.<\/p>\n
"Akbar's case was submitted to the Supreme Court before
\nAmrozi's. Why has the Court issued a verdict for my client so
\nfast?" he wondered, referring to the corruption case of the House
\nSpeaker Akbar Tandjung, who appealed his three-year sentence to
\nthe Court in March 2003.<\/p>\n
Chief Justice Bagir Manan earlier promised that the court
\nwould prioritize the cases of Akbar and the Bali bombings as
\nmandated by legal regulations in which high-profile cases are to
\nbe processed as fast as possible.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court must hear appeal cases considered to be high
\npriority within seven months.<\/p>\n
It usually takes one week for a copy of a Supreme Court's
\nverdict to reach the prosecutors via a district court.
\nProsecutors have no access to the copy from the Supreme Court,
\naccording to procedures.<\/p>\n
A ruling from the Supreme Court is final, meaning that it must
\nbe executed by prosecutors except for verdicts delivering a death
\nsentence.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, a panel of judges with the Supreme Court and
\nanother panel of judges unanimously dismissed the appeals of
\nBeddu and Amrozi, respectively.<\/p>\n
The AGO was confident that Beddu would not escape justice
\nbecause it had not revoked the travel ban slapped on him since he
\nwas declared a suspect in the Bulog case in 2000.<\/p>\n
The AGO has been criticized for its failure to bring high
\nprofile corruptors to justice. Among the corruptors who managed
\nto wiggle their way to freedom are Samadikun Hartono of the now-
\ndefunct Modern Bank, who was sentenced to three years for
\nmisusing Rp 1.69 trillion of the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support
\nfund, and David Nusa Widjaja of the defunct Servitia Bank, who
\nwas sentenced to one year in jail for absconding with Rp. 1.27
\ntrillion.<\/p>\n
Beddu was sentenced to two years for his involvement in a land
\nswap deal causing some Rp 20 billion (some US$24 million) in
\nlosses that taxpayers must now recoup.<\/p>\n
Kemas doubted that the president would pardon Amrozi,
\nespecially after President Megawati Soekarnoputri has rejected
\nrequests for clemency from convicts on death row for crimes
\nranging from murder to drug dealing.<\/p>\n
In the Indonesian criminal justice system, the proceedings of
\nan appeal at the Supreme Court are conducted solely by the
\nappointed judges without the presence of the prosecutors,
\ndefendants or defense lawyers.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court has no obligation to publish their verdicts
\npublicly.<\/p>",
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