Anticorruption body calls for audit of judges' wealth

Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It is often said in Indonesia that money talks, justice walks.

Those judges who abide by this motto could and should be stopped in their tracks if the government regularly audited their wealth, an anticorruption watchdog said on Monday.

Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) chairman Teten Masduki said that transparency was the key to creating an impartial judiciary.

"There must be routine checks on the wealth of judges," he said.

Judicial independence, he said, depended on corruption-free courts, starting with the Supreme Court.

The proposed judicial commission, he said, should not merely appoint judges to the Supreme Court, but should also verify their wealth on a regular bases.

The establishment of the judicial commission has been mandated by the third amendment to the 1945 Constitution.

Members of the commission will be appointed by the President based upon the approval of the House of Representatives.

Its job will be to name candidates for judgeships while also ensuring the dignity and integrity of the judiciary.

Teten argued, however, that the commission should also audit the wealth of the judges.

Next to checking the wealth of judges, Teten said the commission should also screen verdicts that reeked of bribery.

Teten's call came after the government said it would inspect the bank accounts of the three judges who last month declared Canada-based insurance firm PT Asuransi Jiwa Manulife (AJMI) bankrupt.

The verdict, handed down despite AJMI's solid financial position, prompted the government to probe the case and the three judges involved. Suspicions of bribery encouraged the government to take the unusual step of seeking to look into their bank accounts.

The Supreme Court overturned the bankruptcy ruling last Friday. However, it cited procedural violations rather than a weak verdict as its reason.

Teten said judicial independence would remain elusive as long as corruption continued to stigmatize the Supreme Court. "It is well known that people there often have to bribe their way up."

He suggested that the judicial commission consist of people from outside the Supreme Court.

Rudy Satrio, a legal expert from the University of Indonesia, added that the President and the House must only select credible people to be members of the commission.

He warned that the commission could become another tool for intimidation if its members lacked integrity.

Meanwhile, legislator Muhammad Abdul Mochtar from House Commission II on legal affairs said the government should plug loopholes in many of the country's laws that made rampant bribery possible.

The government already plans to revise the bankruptcy law as it allows solvent companies to be declared bankrupt.

Indonesia's notorious courts have been a key deterrent to foreign investors, depriving the nation of much-needed capital to boost economic growth.

In light of this, the government has invited a United Nations fact-finding mission to assess Indonesia's legal system.

Nonetheless, interference from the government has also played a role in undermining judicial independence.

The legislators planning the judicial commission have in mind a judiciary that is free of government interference.

Under present regulations, it is the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights that appoints and assigns judges.

"It's hard to avoid pressure from the government if the judges still fear they may be assigned to remote places," said Rudy Satrio.