Bagir denies bribery allegation
Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Supreme Court chief Bagir Manan on Friday denied allegations that he received payoff money that was given via the Court's officials.
"I would never take bribes. I have never heard that there was an amount of money prepared for me," he said, as quoted by detik.com.
Earlier, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested five officials of the Supreme Court and a judge-turned-lawyer, Harini Wiyoso, for their alleged involvement in a case of bribery.
Harini Wiyoso was a member of the legal team for businessman and cousin of the country's former president Soeharto, Probosutedjo, who was convicted for abusing reforestation funds that caused the state over Rp 100 billion (about US$10 million) in losses.
KPK officials confiscated sums of $400,000 and Rp 800 million, which they believed were to be used as bribes to win an appeal case.
Harini's lawyer, Firman Wijaya, said Thursday that her client had prepared $500,000 to be given to Bagir Manan, who is also a member of the panel of judges in Probosutedjo's appeal.
"The money was prepared by my client to accelerate the process of issuing the verdict," Firman said, adding that his client was ready to be confronted with the arrested officials to disclose the real motive behind the bribery.
Bagir denied the allegations, saying that it was a desperate move from someone who would face a tough sentence if convicted.
"I only met Harini once. I met her because she was a former high court judge. But when she mentioned Probosutedjo's case, I refused to talk about it. In principal, the Supreme Court chief isn't allowed to discuss cases that are being tried," he said.
"Therefore, I am ready to be investigated by the KPK and I will also provide wide access for the KPK to undertake their investigations into my institution," he said.
Indonesian Judicial Monitoring Society chairman Asep Rahmat Fajar said that to prove himself innocent Bagir must allow either the KPK or the Judicial Commission to question the Supreme Court officials.
"The case proves that buying court verdicts has been a systematic and organized crime in the country's legal system. It involves people from the highest levels, such as high court judges, down to the lowest levels, such as administrative staff in the Supreme Court," Asep told The Jakarta Post.
"To prove himself innocent, the chief justice must give full support for further investigations against his officials," he said.
Besides urging Bagir to fully support the KPK's effort to uncover the case, the Jakarta branch of the Indonesian Bar Association also recommended that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono temporary suspend Bagir from his post.
"To allow an objective investigation to take place, it would be better that the President himself should take over command of the court," said the association in a media statement.