4.5 years in jail sought for court clerks in bribery case
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Prosecutors demanded on Friday that two court clerks be sentenced to four-and-half years in prison each if found guilty of taking bribes from a lawyer for convicted Aceh governor Abdullah Puteh.
The clerks at the Jakarta High Court -- Ramadhan Rizal and Mochammad Soleh -- also should be fined Rp 50 million each or serve an additional three months in jail, prosecutor Khaidir Ramly told the Anticorruption Court in Central Jakarta.
He also requested that the court order the confiscation of Rp 249.9 million (US$24,990) in bribe money, which the defendants allegedly received from Puteh's lawyer Teuku Saefuddin Popon, and place it in the state coffers.
"The first and second defendants have been found guilty of committing an act of criminal bribery, thus violating anticorruption laws," Khaidir was quoted as saying by Antara.
He said the fact that the defendants -- who are a part of the justice system -- committed the crime in spite of the government's efforts to intensify the graft fight, made it all the more incriminating.
They also refused to confess to their wrongdoings despite clear evidence, and what they had done had further tarnished the image of the country's justice system, Khaidir argued.
He added that the defendants had families to support and that was the only mitigating factor.
Ramadhan and Soleh were charged with receiving the bribe, allegedly from Popon, in connection with the appeal case of Puteh against his corruption conviction, which was handled by the Jakarta High Court.
Puteh was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Anticorruption Court in a markup case over the purchase of a Russian-made helicopter for the Aceh administration. The appeal courts later upheld the governor's conviction.
Despite being implicated in the case, Puteh, who is serving his sentence at Jakarta's Salemba prison, has not been charged with any wrongdoing in the bribery case.
Khaidir said witnesses who testified at the previous hearings confirmed that Popon acted on his own, but on behalf of Puteh, when the bribe took place.
In his indictment, Khaidir said Popon delivered the money at around 4 p.m. on June 15, 2005 to Soleh at the office of Ramadhan, his superior.
"Based on the statement by the second defendant (Soleh) to the court, when Popon was about to give him the money, the second defendant (Ramadhan) made a hand signal ordering him to hand over the money to him," another prosecutor Z. Todung Alu said.
Shortly after that Soleh went out to say his prayers, then officials of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrived and caught Ramadhan and Popon in the act. A day later, Soleh voluntarily surrendered to the KPK.
In response, the lawyer for the two defendants, Firman Wijaya, dismissed the indictment as "illogical" as the prosecutors failed to charge the people who actually provided the money for and paid the bribe.
"Not only those who paid and received the bribe should have been prosecuted and punished, but also others who planned it and supplied the money," he asserted.
The panel of judges presided over by Gusrizal adjourned the trial until Oct. 27 to hear the defendants' rebuttal.