Court clerks admit to taking 'bribe'

JAKARTA: Two Jakarta High Court clerks admitted to receiving money from convicted Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh's lawyer Tengku Syaifuddin Popon, who is on trial in a bribery case worth nearly Rp 250 million (US$25,000).

Ramadhan Rizal and Muhammad Soleh told the Anticorruption Court here on Monday that they received a bag containing Rp 249.9 million on June 15, 2005, but claimed not to know why Popon gave them the money.

"The defendant put a black bag below my table but I didn't know how much money was in it. I later gave the money back to the defendant when the attorneys came in and asked for it," Rizal said.

Soleh and Rizal alleged Said Salim, a clerk at the Medan High Court, was the "main architect" of the bribe transaction, saying he arranged a meeting between Popon and the panel of judges who dealt with Puteh's appeal.

The bribe attempt was apparently aimed at reducing the 10-year jail term of Puteh, who was convicted of embezzlement after marking up the purchase price of Russian-made helicopter for the Aceh administration in 2001.

Puteh has not been charged in connection with the latest bribery case.

The Supreme Court earlier upheld Puteh's sentence on appeal, fining him Rp 500 million and ordering him to pay Rp 6.56 billion in restitution to the state. --JP