Court to face lawsuit over bogus lawyers

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