Corruption rampant in Medan courts: Lawyers

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra

A number of judges at the Medan district and North Sumatra high courts were guilty of extortion and other malpractice, Medan lawyers said on Saturday.

Lawyer Januari Siregar said he recently filed a report to the Supreme Court in Jakarta about a judge at the Medan district court, whom he accused extorting money from his client's family.

The judge took Rp 30 million (US$3,530) from the family to postpone his client's detention, Januari said.

His letter of complaint was sent on Jan. 12.

Januari said he felt it right to file a report as there were many cases of harassment and other violations committed by judges in Medan.

He revealed an alleged extortion by a judge at the North Sumatra high court against his client, a monk from Taiwan, who was an American national.

When his client appeared at a court session as a witness in a criminal case, the panel of judges at the Medan district court decided that he was also guilty, Januari said.

His client appealed to the North Sumatra High Court, but he lost the appeal.

Januari claimed his client lost the appeal although he had paid Rp 50 million to a High Court judge.

Based on day-to-day experience, the Januari Siregar & Associates law firm estimated about 75 percent of criminal and civil cases on trial at the Medan district court were turned into commodities by judges and prosecutors.

Law practitioner Syafaruddin, a former chairman of the corruption-busting Lawyer 61 communication forum in Medan, said corruption in the Medan district and North Sumatra high courts had gone on for a long time.

This had prompted lawyers in Medan to establish the communication forum to fight it.

"We formed the communication forum in 1998, when corruption was rampant and many lawyers bemoaned their clients couldn't afford to pay such amounts of money to win their cases," he said.

Asked about alleged corruption in the Medan district court, its head, Sulthoni Mohdally, said he believed the district was relatively clean.

If extortion or bribe-taking was found, he would severely punish the judges involved. "It's a principle of mine -- I'd rather throw (the judges) away than smear this august body," he told The Jakarta Post.

When asked about a report from Januari Siregar about an allegedly corrupt judge, Sulthoni said: "I know him personally -- he's a qualified and honest judge."

"I know his qualities -- it would be not possible for him to do that. It's only slander," Sulthoni said.