New judges to hear Probo case<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court has set up a new five-judge panel to handle
\nthe appeal case of businessman Probosutedjo amid allegations that
\nthe previous panel of three justices had received bribe money
\nfrom latter, who is former president Soeharto's half-brother.<\/p>\n
Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan was quoted by state-
\nrun news agency Antara as saying on Thursday that the new judges
\nwere appointed on Monday, but they had yet to start working on
\nthe case because of the Idul Fitri holiday.<\/p>\n
The new panel is led by Iskandar Kamil, and he will be
\nassisted by Atja Senjaya, Regina Purba, Djoko Sarwoko and Harifin
\nA. Tumpak.<\/p>\n
Bagir explained that the change was necessary because the
\nlegal opinions on the case issued by the previous three justices
\nhad been leaked out after the Corruption Eradication Commission
\n(KPK) launched a raid into the offices of the justices and
\nconfiscated the copies of those legal opinions.<\/p>\n
"The legal opinion is a confidential document. Once it is
\nopened, then we have to get a new panel of justices (for the
\ncase)," said Bagir, who personally led the previous three-judge
\npanel.<\/p>\n
The KPK is currently investigating allegations that
\nProbosutedjo, who was convicted on graft charges by lower courts,
\nhad disbursed bribe money via his lawyers to judges at the
\ndistrict court, high court and the Supreme Court in a bid to be
\nacquitted from a graft charge.<\/p>\n
Probosutedjo claims that he had allocated Rp 16 billion in
\nbribe money, some Rp 6 billion of which went to the Supreme
\nCourt, while the other Rp 10 billion went to judges and
\nprosecutors at the lower courts.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court justices have denied the allegations.<\/p>\n
Probosutedjo was given a four-year prison sentence by the
\nCentral Jakarta District Court in 2003, but the sentence was
\nlater halved by the Jakarta High Court. The Supreme Court was in
\nthe process of completing the appeal case when the bribery
\nallegations emerged.<\/p>\n
The alleged bribery case, which highlights the country's
\ncorrupt courts system, came to the fore when the KPK arrested
\nHarini Wiyoso, a lawyer for Probosutedjo, as she was about to pay
\nRp 1 billion to five Supreme Court staff members. The KPK has
\narrested Harini and the five clerks.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/new-judges-to-hear-probo-case-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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