Court looks into bribery allegations

Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Supreme Court is considering investigating an alleged case of bribery in connection with the trials of former State Logistics Agency (Bulog) chief Rahardi Ramelan and House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Akbar Tandjung, a Supreme Court justice said.

Rahardi, who is currently on trial at the South Jakarta District Court for his alleged role in the misuse of Rp 62.9 billion of Bulog funds, has not been granted release by the district court despite the formal requests of his lawyers.

Ironically, Akbar, who is being separately tried as a defendant at the Central Jakarta District Court for his part in Rahardi's graft case, has been granted temporary release by the judges presiding over his case.

Supreme Court secretary-general Gunanto Suryono said on Thursday that the Supreme Court had received information from a number of sources about allegations of bribery, in connection with the judges presiding over Rahardi's case and judges presiding over Akbar's.

Gunanto refused to comment on rumors that the camp of Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung, had allegedly paid off judges in exchange for his temporary release, and further rumors that Akbar's side had allegedly bribed judges at the South Jakarta District Court to keep Rahardi in Cipinang prison.

"I won't comment on all that. Those are unsubstantiated allegations and rumors. We have formed an investigative team which will look into these allegations concerning the courts. The team comprises of three members, including a Supreme Court justice," Gunanto told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

He refused to identify the members of the team.

"We cannot remain silent over this, since the chief justice has ordered an investigation. The team has already been put to work. Results will be handed over to Chief Justice Bagir Manan," Gunanto said.

Rahardi's lawyer, Trimoelja D. Soerjadi, said he was not worried about the matter and supported the Supreme Court in its investigation efforts.

"Let them find out who has done what," Trimoelja told the Post.

Judge Amiruddin Zakaria presides over Rahardi's case, while Akbar's case is presided over by Lalu Mariyun.

Lalu had thrown a graft case involving president Soeharto out of the South Jakarta District Court in 2000.

The court has also released notorious defendants like Soeharto's son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra in the Goro-Bulog land-swap deal, and defendant Djoko Tjandra in the misuse of the Rp 546 billion Bank Indonesia liquidity support loan for Bank Bali.

Trimoelja told the court on Tuesday that Akbar had tried to make his client lie last October to get himself out of trouble. The lawyer said Rahardi would have accepted the offer if Akbar guaranteed some help in return.