Court to face lawsuit over bogus lawyers

PALEMBANG, South Sumatra: At least four advocate organizations have decided to sue the South Sumatra high court for allegedly issuing licenses to 40 bogus lawyers.

"We are planning to file a lawsuit against the South Sumatra high court to demand that the illegal licenses be revoked," Zoekmi Dwiwarna, who chairs the South Sumatra branch of the Indonesian Advocate Association, said on Tuesday.

The issue of bogus lawyers surfaced one month ago after Asdeni Hanafiah, an employee of the Alamsyah Hanafiah legal office in Palembang, claimed he was a lawyer, although he has yet to finish studying at the law school faculty of Muhammadiyah University based in Palembang.

Asdeni said he obtained his lawyer's license from the high court.

In a response to the report, South Sumatra High Court chairman Soedarsono punished four of his staff officials charged with issuing Asdeni's license. --JP