Antigraft court officially begins operation

Antigraft court officially begins operation

Muninggar Sri Saraswati
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri swore in a team of nine non-
career judges on Thursday, which will try high-profile corruption
cases involving state officials.

The installation of the judges, which had been delayed for
unexplained reasons, means the much-awaited Anticorruption Court
has officially opened.

The nine judges, who took an oath before Megawati, were M.S.
Lumme, Hamrat Hamid, Krisna Harahap, As'adi Al Ma'ruf, Sudiro,
Abdurrahman Hasan, Dudu Duswara, I Made Hendra Kesuma and Achmad
Linoh.

Along with six career judges, they will be assigned to hear
corruption cases at the district courts and higher courts. A
panel of five judges will be assigned at each level.

All the 15 judges are currently completing special training
conducted by the Supreme Court in Jakarta.

Megawati issued a presidential decree on the establishment of
the Anticorruption Court last month, but it could not be made
operational until after the nine non-career judges were
installed.

Under the prevailing law, it is the president, not the Supreme
Court chief, who is authorized to swear in judges for the
Anticorruption Court.

The court has the authority to deal with high-profile graft
cases brought in by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Thursday's installation of judges was attended by newly
elected House of Representatives speaker Agung Laksono and
Regional Representatives Council (DPD) chairman Ginandjar
Kartasasmita. Interim coordinating minister for political and
security affairs Hari Sabarno was also among those present.

Separately, KPK chairman Taufiqurrahman Ruki immediately
announced on Thursday that his office would soon submit two-high
profile graft cases to the court.

The two cases included a Rp 4 billion (US$444,444) case
implicating Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Governor Abdullah Puteh who
is charged with marking up the price of a Russian helicopter for
his administration.

The other case involves Harun Letlet and Capt. Tarsisius
Walla, both current officials at the Ministry of Communications.

The two have been named suspects in a graft scam over the
construction of a seaport in Maluku, which caused an estimated Rp
10 billion in state losses.

Deputy KPK chairman Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean said that his
office would name more suspects in the case against Governor
Puteh, who also heads the civil emergency administration in Aceh.

"We have found convincing evidence, but we'll split the case
files (of Puteh and other suspects)," he told a press conference.

Tumpak said the commission is expected to hand over those
cases to the court this month at the latest. "But, we will visit
the court first to observe whether the judges are prepared to
accept the cases or not."

Before the press conference, the KPK chairman installed 10
officials to head important posts in the commission, which had
been left vacant since its establishment late last year.

Among the 10 were Waluyo, a former senior official with a
foreign oil company who was appointed as deputy chairman of the
corruption prevention division, and M. Syamsa Ardisasmita, a
former National Atomic Energy Agency (Batan) head who was sworn
in as the KPK deputy chairman for information systems and data.

Other officials included Junino Jahja, a former finance
director of private telecommunication firm Indosat who was sworn
in as KPK deputy chairman for internal monitoring and public
complaints.

The commission only deals with corruption cases involving
state officials and a minimum of Rp 1 billion.

The KPK is also tasked with monitoring and preventing
corruption practices in Indonesia.

However, due to what experts and its members say is lack of
support from the government, a vacuum in qualified personnel and
financial difficulties, the commission has not been able to do
its best for the nation.