Akbar names new team of lawyers ahead of trial
Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In an abrupt move ahead of his first trial scheduled to start on Monday, House of Representative Speaker Akbar Tandjung currently implicated in the high profile Bulog scandal replaced his team of lawyers on Friday.
Akbar, who is also the chairman of the Golkar Party, has appointed a new 10-member team of lawyers, including, among others, Amir Syamsuddin, who acts as leader of the team, John Waleri, Martin Pongrekun and Denny Kailimang.
The appointment was made after Amir was previously rumored to have strengthened Akbar's earlier team, consisting of Hotma Sitompul, Ruhut Sitompul and Tommy Sihotang.
Akbar was detained at the Attorney General's Office on March 7, for allegedly misappropriating Rp 40 billion in funds belonging to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) allocated for food aid for the poor in 1999 when he was the minister/state secretary under former president B.J. Habibie.
The Rp 40 billion is believed by many to have been channeled into the Golkar Party to finance its 1999 election campaign. Golkar executive Syamsul Mu'arif, who is also the state minister for communications and information, said the funds had been shared with all of the 48 parties contesting the election, except for the People's Democratic Party.
Akbar's case is part of a Rp 54.6 billion corruption case involving former Bulog chief Rahardi Ramelan as the prime suspect, who is also being tried in the South Jakarta District Court.
Ruhut expressed resentment on Friday over "intervention by Golkar supporters" in the proceedings, citing as an example of a recent visit by Akbar's wife Krisnina Maharani to the Central Jakarta District Court demanding the postponement of Akbar's detention.
"We were restricted in our efforts in presenting the case as members of Golkar continue interfering in the proceedings," Ruhut told The Jakarta Post.
There has been speculation that Golkar was not satisfied with the work of the old team, so Akbar was advised to appoint other team of lawyers.
The speculation, however, was denied by Slamet Effendi Jusuf, cochairman of Golkar, saying the party members never directly intervened in the case, but merely provided legal advice to Akbar to be later communicated with the lawyers.
"Some Golkar law experts were simply giving advice with decisions being left to the chairman himself. We never intervened directly in the legal process," Slamet told the Post, adding that Krisnina went to the Central Jakarta District Court of her own initiative and was not advised to do so by any Golkar members.
The Central Jakarta District Court set up a panel of judges, consisting of Judge Andi and I Ketut Gede and Presiding Judge Amiruddin Zakaria, only a couple of hours after the Jakarta Prosecutors' Office handed over the case files on March 14.
Many have alleged that the process in Akbar's case has been accelerated for political reasons in an attempt to show the public that law enforcers are really serious about the case. It is also believed to function as an exchange for the House of Representatives not establishing a special investigative committee into his case.
The House failed again to set up the committee on Monday due to aggressive lobbying by Golkar members, the second largest and richest party in the country.
Golkar is campaigning intensively against the establishment of the committee for fear of possible damaging consequences for Akbar, his political career and the party.