Adi Andojo takes collusion case to Vice President
JAKARTA (JP): Justice Adi Andojo Soetjipto has taken his campaign to clean the Supreme Court of collusion to Vice President Try Sutrisno after his own immediate supervisor failed to take action.
The Deputy Chief Justice for General Crimes told a meeting at the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) yesterday that he had written to Try on Wednesday asking that he follow up on the internal investigation of the Supreme Court.
Justice Adi admitted that by taking it to the Vice President, the case will undoubtedly become political.
Justice Adi, who was invited by the YLBHI to explain his campaign at a discussion of legal experts, said he was serious about his quest and was convinced that he had a strong case.
"I will cut my finger off if anyone can prove otherwise," he pledged.
Last week Chief Justice Soerjono announced the result of an internal Supreme Court investigation of Justice Adi's collusion charge. The court's finding was that there was no conclusive evidence to support the allegation, but it found a "violation of procedure" committed by some members of the court.
The investigation centered on the way the court dealt with Gandhi Seva Loka vs Ram Gulumal alias V. Ram. The Court's three- person panel appointed to hear the case acquitted the defendant, the principal of the Gandhi Memorial School, of fraud charges. It overturned guilty verdicts meted out by two lower courts.
Reprimanded
Justice Adi was reprimanded for going public with his charges and undermining the image of the court.
Justice Adi told the meeting yesterday that he was disappointed with the finding, especially in light of the strong evidence to the contrary.
He listed irregularities he claimed proved bias in the way the case was treated:
* The case was parceled out to a team led by Justice Samsoedin Aboebakar. The judge normally hears civil rather than criminal cases.
* The case was given a speedy hearing although the Supreme Court had a huge backlog of cases. The case was certainly not a priority because it did not generate much public interest.
* The panel of justices gave priority to the case without written permission from Chief Justice Soerjono.
He also questioned the way the Supreme Court handled the internal investigation and also Soerjono's decision to give him a verbal warning for his behavior.
He said that in his letter to Vice President Try, he proposed a number of measures, including eliminating "scalping" cases at the Supreme Court and simplifying how cases are heard to cut the huge backlog.
Some legal experts at the discussion said that Adi Andojo should have taken his campaign to the People's Consultative Assembly rather than the Vice President. (16)