Court looks into bribery allegations
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.