Bribery rampant in court: Commission

Bribery rampant in court: Commission

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Judicial Commission said on Monday that the bribery case
involving former president Soeharto's half-brother Probosutedjo
provided a crystal clear proof that the practice was rampant in
the court system and legal professions.

Pressures, meanwhile, mounted for Chief Justice Bagir Manan,
who is presiding over the panel of judges hearing the case, to be
suspended, pending an investigation into him in connection with
the bribery allegations.

Judicial Commission member Irawadi Joenoes said after
questioning Probosutedjo on Monday that the bribery involved
judges and officials at the Jakarta High Court, the Supreme Court
as well as prosecutors and lawyers.

"In his account, Probosutedjo said the (judges at the Central
Jakarta) District Court were clean, the High Court was crowded
(by extorters) while the Supreme Court was even more crowded,"
Irawadi told reporters after the four-hour session.

Probosutedjo, who has confessed to the Corruption Eradication
Commission (KPK) to having spent some Rp 16 billion on bribes for
judges and court officials to rule in his favor, told reporters
he gave the money to his lawyers to escape a jail sentence as he
believed that did not commit a crime.

"This is a civil case rather than corruption," he said.
Accompanying him was his lawyer H.A. Boer and economist Sri Edhi
Swasono, who is the husband of State Minister of Women's
Empowerment Meutia Farida Hatta Swasono.

Probosutedjo was convicted of embezzling reforestation funds
that cost the state over Rp 100 billion in losses. He was
sentenced to four years in jail by the Central Jakarta District
Court in 2003, but the Jakarta High Court later halved the jail
term.

The Supreme Court is still hearing his appeal.

Probosutedjo said he approved a suggestion from his then
lawyers to pay a total of Rp 10 billion to officials of the
district court and the high court.

"That's according to my lawyers, who fought for the most
lenient verdict for me, or acquittal if possible," he said, as
quoted by Antara.

Probosutedjo revealed that his defense lawyers Sony Lumantaw
and Richard Marbun, who represented him at the district court,
had given some of his money to prosecutors.

He added that lawyers Nurbaiti and Gatot Rusmanto, whom he
hired to win his appeal at the High Court, said they would pay
Judge Samang Hamidi, who presided over the panel of judges, and
then Jakarta High Court head Ridwan Nasution.

"I gave the money through my lawyers," said Probosutedjo, who
claimed he had no direct access to judges, prosecutors or court
clerks handling his case.

Boer said his client would seek protection as a witness from
the Corruption Eradication Commission, which is now investigating
the scandal.

Probosutedjo claims that he is a whistleblower for the KPK,
but observers have insisted that the commission also charge the
businessman with bribery. KPK has so far treated Probosutedjo as
a witness in the case, the first to implicate the previously
untouchable Supreme Court.

Separately, National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas) governor
Muladi called on Bagir, and Justices Parman Suparman and Usman
Karim to be suspended, pending the KPK investigation into their
involvement in the matter.

"They must be suspended and demonstrate their manners as the
investigation and questioning are not related to their capacity
as individuals," he said.

KPK investigators have arrested Probosutedjo's lawyer Harini
Wijoso and five officials of the Supreme Court for their alleged
involvement in the verdict-buying scam. The KPK also confiscated
some US$400,000 and Rp 800 million, which is believed would have
been paid to win the appeal case.

Harini told him that Rp 1 billion would be paid to court
employees, and the remaining Rp 5 billion to Bagir.