Judge admits he was paid<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A judge being tried in a bribery case linked to Supreme Court
\njustices admitted on Wednesday to receiving Rp 550 million from a
\ncompany, but claimed that he did not keep the money.<\/p>\n
Faozatulo Zendrato, 51, now a Jakarta High Court judge, said
\nhe only attempted to help state-owned PT Surabaya Industrial
\nEstate Rungkut (PT SIER), which appealed two land dispute cases
\nto the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
\"I was only acting as a middleman, I didn't even get a penny,\"
\nhe told a hearing at the Central Jakarta District Court, presided
\nover by Judge Bambang Sriwulan.<\/p>\n
Fauzotulo was head of the appeal division of the Supreme Court
\nwhen he received the money in 1999.<\/p>\n
The defendant said PT SIER had transferred Rp 550 million to
\nhis account at Bank Rakyat Indonesia on Jl. Veteran, Central
\nJakarta. Despite suspicion that Fauzotulo used the funds to
\ndirectly bribe the justices, however, he later claimed to have
\nwithdrawn the money and given it to the late Soedarto, PT SIER's
\nlawyer at the time.<\/p>\n
When Judge Bambang asked Faozatulo whether the money affected
\nthe Supreme Court verdict, he replied, \"Yes, I think it worked as
\nSoedarto said \"beres\" (done), and PT SIER later won the cases.\"<\/p>\n
Even though the defendant admitted that he acted as a
\nmiddleman between PT SIER and the Supreme Court justices, neither
\nthe judges nor prosecutors asked him how the justices were
\napproached.<\/p>\n
After the trial, prosecutor Agus Sutoto, who is scheduled to
\nrequest sentencing on Dec. 5, said that he did not ask the
\ndefendant about the involvement of the justices, implying that it
\nwas not relevant to the aims of the trial.<\/p>\n
\"The important thing is that he admitted his involvement. We
\ndidn't ask about the justices' involvement because it was beyond
\nthe scope of the indictment,\" Agus remarked.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor failed to summon three Supreme Court justices
\nand two former Supreme Court justices who presided over the PT
\nSIER cases. The Supreme Court justices are Marnis Kahar, R.L.
\nTobing and Soedarno, while the former justices are M. Yahya
\nHarahap and R. Sunu Wahadi.<\/p>\n
Marnis Kahar and M. Yahya Harahap have been tried for alleged
\ninvolvement in a different bribery case but both were acquitted.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/judge-admits-he-was-paid-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}