'Adi Andojo must seek Try's support'
'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)