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)