Corrupt judges must be punished: Bismar

Corrupt judges must be punished: Bismar

JAKARTA (JP): Retired justice Bismar Siregar believes that any
judge who takes a bribe should be expelled from the profession.

Commenting on a judge in North Sumatra currently facing
corruption charges, Bismar said there should be no leniency for
anyone who tarnishes the image of the court.

"There are no excuses. He or she should be fired," he told The
Jakarta Post over the weekend.

Bismar, a highly respected judge who retired from the Supreme
Court a few months ago, recalled that there was a time when the
authorities did not hesitate to expel judges for accepting bribes.

In 1964, when he served as chief of Pontianak District Court
in West Kalimantan, he was about to discipline three judges found
guilty of corruption when an order came from Chief Justice
Wirjono Prodjodikoro to dismiss the three judges.

"I can't recall any instance in which judges were expelled
from the profession since the 1970s to this day," he added.

Recent allegations of judicial corruption have revived an old
perception of the country's courts as mafia-like syndicates with
judges, district attorneys and lawyers in collusion.

A judge on the Medan High Court, Soetrisno, was accused last
week in a Sleman, Central Jakarta, court of having accepted
bribes during the highly publicized trial of businessman Eddy
Tansil, which Soetrisno tried two years ago.

Tansil was eventually convicted of embezzling $620 million
dollars in Bapindo funds, which nearly brought down the state-
owned bank. Tansil was sentenced to 20 years in jail and four
Bapindo directors were convicted.

Soetrisno is now involved in a dispute with a former friend,
Parto, alias Oei Yue Soen, over 3,225 square meters of land in
the Sleman area.

Parto's lawyer, Musyafah, alleged last week that the judge
accepted Rp 200 million (US$ 86,000) from Tansil, to ensure that
he, and not other judges, tried the case.

Musyafah also accused Soetrisno of taking bribes from parties
involved in a number of land disputes and criminal cases.

Soetrisno has denied all the charges.

I cannot accept the suggestion that the court turn a blind eye
to judges accepting "gifts" on the grounds that their salaries
are low, Bismar said.

There is no way to determine when a judge's salary is
sufficient because judges, like other human beings, will always
have higher expectations of material wealth, he said.

He pointed out that two years ago the government approved
generous hikes in the salaries of judges, whose pay scale differs
from other government employees.

"Judges should realize that they are paid more than other
government employees," he said.

Deputy Chief Justice for General Crime, Adi Andojo Soetjipto,
was more cautious with his comments, saying that the allegation
against Soetrisno has not yet been proven in court.

He suggested that the person responsible for the allegation
present the evidence in court.

Justice Adi said that if Musyafah cannot substantiate the
accusation, his license to practice law should be rescinded by
the court.

The last judge to face corruption charges was Judge Sarwono,
who acquitted three businessmen two years ago of tax fraud
charges brought by the government in the Surabaya district court.

The Ministry of Justice later cleared Sarwono of the
corruption charges but said that he did violate the profession's
code of ethics. The precise violations were never made public and
Sarwono was later reassigned to non-judicial tasks on the Supreme
Court. (imn)