Judge to be questioned over 'unfair decision'<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Chief of the Central Jakarta District Court will question judge
\nAmiruddin Zakaria following the complaint from the Central
\nJakarta Prosecutors' Office chief, who has accused him of being
\nunfair in the handling of a corruption case.<\/p>\n
Court chief Mohammad Saleh told reporters in his office on
\nMonday that he would listen to both Amiruddin and the prosecutor
\nwho first lodged the complaint.<\/p>\n
Amiruddin is the presiding judge who is trying the now defunct
\nBank Umum Nasional (BUN) director Leonard Tanubrata and vice
\ncommissioner Kaharudin Ongko who are charged with misusing Rp 6.7
\ntrillion (US$670 million) of Bank Indonesia's emergency loans
\ndisbursed between November 1997 and April 1998.<\/p>\n
Based on prosecutor Arnold Angkouw's complaint, the Central
\nJakarta Prosecutors' Office filed a request to the court, asking
\nfor the replacement of Amiruddin for allegedly having \"direct or
\nindirect interests\" in the case.<\/p>\n
\"I've just received the request from the Central Jakarta
\nProsecutors' Office at 2:30 p.m today, but I will issue the
\ndecision soon,\" Saleh said.<\/p>\n
Amiruddin is also the presiding judge who is handling the
\nmurder case of Hutomo \"Tommy\" Mandala Putra and the corruption
\ncase of House of Representatives' Speaker Akbar Tandjung.<\/p>\n
It rarely happens here that prosecutors ask for the
\nreplacement of a judge who is handling a case.<\/p>\n
The last case occurred last year in Bandung, West Java, when
\nprosecutor AK Basari Masyarif requested the West Java High Court
\nto replace presiding judge Tarbin for allegedly \"having
\ninterests\" in the corruption case of former West Java deputy
\ngovernor Ukman Sutaryan.<\/p>\n
The high court rejected the request, but several weeks later,
\njudge Tarbin resigned from his post as the presiding judge.<\/p>\n
In Amiruddin's case, it all began on May 7 when he rejected to
\nhear an expert witness presented by Arnold following an objection
\nfrom the defendants' lawyers.<\/p>\n
The lawyers claimed that the expert witness, Oei Hoei Tiong, a
\nlegal expert from Bank Indonesia, was also implicated in the
\ncase.<\/p>\n
Arnold insisted to present Oei, saying that the Criminal Code
\nProcedure stipulates that the court must present all witnesses
\nwhose testimony were recorded in the dossiers.<\/p>\n
However, Amiruddin refused, arguing that a Supreme Court
\ncircular No 2\/1985 authorizes the panel of judges to decide which
\nwitnesses could be produced in the courtroom.<\/p>\n
Amiruddin adjourned the hearing for an indefinite time after
\nArnold insisted to file a request to replace the judges.<\/p>\n
Last year, Amiruddin ordered the pending of the detention of
\nLeonard and Kaharudin on Aug. 10, shortly after prosecutors
\nhanded over the case to the court.<\/p>\n
Last month, he also released Akbar from detention.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/judge-to-be-questioned-over-unfair-decision-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }