Appeal hearing open to public

Appeal hearing open to public

JAKARTA: The Supreme Court will deliver its verdict on an
appeal sought by graft convicts Harun Let-let and Tarcisius Walla
in a hearing on Wednesday that will be open to the public.

A non-career judge at the anticorruption court MS Lumee said
on Tuesday the panel of justices would read out the verdict at
the Wiryono Room at the Supreme Court building, starting at 10
a.m.

The Supreme Court usually issues verdicts without prior
notice, meaning that no-one but the justices attend the hearing.
The appeal hearings of former Golkar Party chairman Akbar
Tandjung in February 2004 and suspended Aceh governor Abdullah
Puteh last September were the only occasions when the Supreme
Court notified the public in advance.

The anticorruption court sentenced former treasurer at the
directorate general of sea transportation Let-let to eight years
jail, and former secretary of the directorate general Walla for
seven years for embezzling Rp 10.26 billion of the state money
spent on land for a seaport development in Southeast Maluku. The
higher court upheld the conviction, sentencing Let-let and Walla
to nine years and seven years of imprisonment respectively. --
Antara