'Adi Andojo must seek Try's support'

JAKARTA (JP): Deputy Chief Justice Adi Andojo Soetjipto should seek the support of Vice President Try Sutrisno in his campaign to rid the Supreme Court of alleged bribery practices, a legal expert suggested over the weekend.

Satjipto Rahardjo said on Saturday that Adi could ask the office of the vice president, which is in charge of supervising state agency operations, to investigate charges that a senior judge took a bribe of Rp 1.4 billion (US$593,471) from a defendant facing charges of fraud and illegal land appropriation.

"Adi could send a letter to the vice president's complaint box, P.O. Box 5000, requesting that an investigation be conducted," said Satjipto, who is a member of the National Commission on Human Rights and a professor of law at Diponegoro University in Semarang, Central Java.

"Such a step is needed to clarify if collusion really took place," Satjipto said by telephone.

In an interview with the Merdeka daily on Saturday, Deputy Chief Justice for General Crimes Adi Andojo lashed out at a number of senior judges whom he accused of having lied to him repeatedly since the Supreme Court began preparing for the case of document fraud at the Gandhi Memorial International School.

"As a deputy chief justice, I have the authority to distribute incoming cases to the groups of senior judges," Adi said. "The Gandhi School case was supposed to have been handled by group H, but, without my knowledge, it was later given to group D, which was chaired by Samsoeddin Aboebakar."

Adi said he became aware of the case switching when the judges in group D acquitted defendant Ram Gulumal of all charges in July 1995.

Adi said that bribery practices are rampant and have blemished the image of the Supreme Court.

"We all know there are judges who have taken bribes and I no longer want to cover up such practices.

"The condition has gotten so bad that I think there should be an independent team set up to investigate, and I have proposed that the office of the vice president establish such a team," Adi said.

"I don't think an investigation team set up by the Supreme Court itself would be objective," he said.

The charges surfaced when the latest edition of the bi-weekly magazine Forum Keadilan disclosed a "secret" letter from Adi Andojo addressed to the Central Jakarta Prosecutor's Office.

In his letter, Adi asked the office to ask the Supreme Court to review its decision to acquit Ram Gulumal of all charges of unlawful land procurement for the construction of the Gandhi Memorial International School in Ancol, North Jakarta.

The magazine reported that Gulumal's release sparked controversy among senior judges, who believed that the judges presiding over the case had received a bribe of Rp 1.4 billion.

Adi Andojo reportedly asked the Prosecutor's Office to delay the Supreme Court decision, which ruled last July that the charges against Gulumal for falsifying documents could not be proven.

Gulumal, 57, an Indian national who came to Indonesia in 1957, is a former principal of the first Gandhi Memorial School located in Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta.

The school was founded by the Bombay Merchants Association in 1950.

In 1973, Gulumal sent an application to the governor of Jakarta to buy 10,000 square meters of land in Ancol. He later built the Gandhi Memorial International School on the land.

The alleged improprieties were revealed in 1991 by the association's new management, which controls the management of the Indian school.

Gulumal was sentenced by the Central Jakarta District Court in 1993 to one year in prison for falsifying documents to acquire the land and permits necessary for establishing the new school.

The verdict was upheld by the Jakarta High Court on appeal but the sentence reduced to eight months.

Satjipto said that Adi Andojo's request that the Prosecutor's Office review the case is legal. (imn)