Antigraft team vow for justices' prosecution<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): On the verge of completing its work, the Joint
\nAnticorruption Team (TGPTPK) pledged to make the best use of its
\nremaining days to bring at least three cases to trial, including
\nthe alleged bribery of three serving and retiring Supreme Court
\njustices.<\/p>\n
TGPTPK chairman Krisantono said on Thursday that the team is
\nfocused on investigating six cases, but only half of them are
\nready for prosecution.<\/p>\n
\"By the end of this month we will bring three cases to court,
\nall of them involving corruption in judicial bodies,\" he told a
\nmedia conference.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court on March 23 annulled the regulation that
\nbecame the legal basis for the establishment of the
\nanticorruption team, and gave less than three months for the
\nteam's dissolution.<\/p>\n
Krisantono said on Thursday that the six cases handled by his
\nteam involved former justice Yahya M. Harahap and two service
\njustices Supraptini Sutarto and Marnis Kahar. The other suspects
\nare the Supreme Court director of the state administrative court
\nZainal Agus and the court's clerk Zendrato.<\/p>\n
He said that the Supreme Court's decision on March 23 was an
\nobvious indication of its efforts to hamper the team's work.<\/p>\n
\"On June 8, we'll no longer have any legal basis for
\ncontinuing unless the government replaces the revoked
\nregulation,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Krisantono said that the March 23 decision was itself
\nquestionable.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court reviewed the government regulation in lieu
\nof law No. 19 dated April 2000 upon the request of Yahya
\nHarahap's lawyers. Yayha was allegedly involved in a Rp 196
\nmillion (US$19,600) bribery. The judicial review decision was
\nhanded down by a panel of justices presided over by Paulus E.
\nLotulung, who was one of Yahya's legal advisers.<\/p>\n
\"Moreover, the legal grounds for the Supreme Court to conduct
\na judicial review are based merely on an internal regulation, the
\npower of which is far below that of the revoked government
\nregulation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Anticorruption team member Iskandar Sonhadji added that the
\nSupreme Court's considerations on the decision failed to show if
\nthe regulation contradicted the 1999 Anticorruption Law that
\nprovided the basis for establishing the team.<\/p>\n
Krisantono said that although the Vice Supreme Court Chief
\njustice Taufiq had given the public a chance to file an objection
\nover the revocation of the regulation, it would not change the
\ndecision.<\/p>\n
\"Taufiq's offer is only a token one, since nothing can be done
\nto change the result of a judicial review. We think judicial
\nreview had been used by the Supreme Court as a mechanism to
\nprotect its interest,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The joint team, which started its work in May last year, has
\nmade it a priority to eradicate graft within the judicial system,
\nincluding the Supreme Court and district courts.<\/p>\n
Last year, following the team's disclosure that it was
\ninvestigating the bribery case in the Supreme Court, two of the
\nthree suspects, Supraptini and Marnis, reported the then team
\nchairman Adi Andojo Soetjipto and a witness in the case, Endin
\nWahyudin, to the police for slander.<\/p>\n
The trial against Endin is scheduled to begin at the Central
\nJakarta District Court on April 23.<\/p>\n
Krisantono said the team had initially asked the Jakarta
\nProsecutors' Office to halt the prosecution of Endin, pending
\ncompletion of the legal process against Supraptini and Marnis.<\/p>\n
\"There must be something wrong with the prosecutors. I think
\nsuch ignorance is just one of the systematic obstacles put before
\nus,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Judicial Watch also commented that Endin's trial should be put
\noff until the district court hands down its verdict on the two
\nbribery suspects.<\/p>\n
\"Endin's trial reflects the weak commitment of the judicial
\nbodies in the effort to establish a clean and fair judicial
\nprocess..\", coordinator of Judicial Watch, A, Muhammad Asrun,
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He also called upon the Attorney General to provide immunity
\nfrom prosecution for any witness who reported corruption,
\ncollusion or nepotism. (bby)<\/p>",
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