Four-year sentence asked for high court judge
Four-year sentence asked for high court judge
State prosecutors asked the Central Jakarta District
Court on Thursday to sentence a judge of the Jakarta High Court
to four years in jail in a bribery case involving Supreme Court
Justices.
According to prosecutor Agus Sutoto, the defendant Fauzatulo
Zendrato was found guilty of manipulating his authority while he
headed the appeals division of the Supreme Court two years ago by
receiving Rp 550 million in bribes.
He was charged under Article 418 of the Criminal Code on
bribery to state officials and the Anticorruption Law.
Fauzatulo remained quiet while listening to Agus present the
sentence demand.
Presiding judge Bambang Sriwulan adjourned the hearing until
next week to hear the defendant's plea.
The case started in March of 1999 after several employees of
state-owned company PT Surabaya Industrial Estate Rungkut (PT
SIER) visited Fauzatulo at the Supreme Court office on Jl.
Lapangan Banteng, Central Jakarta.
The employees, Hartoyo Abdul Kahar, Thoriq Baya'sut and the
late Soedarno met the defendant to make arrangements with the
Supreme Court justice, who was to try their case, in order to
secure a favorable verdict. The case had been submitted in 1995.
Previously, they had testified that they had bribed the
defendant to rule in their favor in a land dispute.
Several days later, the defendant asked for Rp 200 million
from Hartoyo in order to bribe a panel of justices for the first
case. Shortly thereafter, Fauzatulo received a Rp 150 million
bank transfer from PT SIER on March 24, 1999 after the company
negotiated the price down slightly.
On April 29, the record shows, a panel of justices ruled that
PT SIER won the case.
Fauzatulo then asked for Rp 400 million on July 7, 1999 from
Hartoyo, this time to influence a second case. PT SIER approved
his request. Again, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of PT SIER
in a land dispute case.
The justices involved in the case, including R.L. Tobing,
Soedarno, Marnis Kahar, M. Yahya Harahap and R.Sunu Wahadi, oddly
enough, were never called to testify in the case against
Fauzatulo, nor have they been charged.
Marnis and Harahap were defendants in a similar bribery case
involving Rp 190 million. However, they were acquitted of all
charges.
Tobing, Marnis and Soedarno are currently justices at the
Supreme Court while Harahap and Wahadi are now retired. --JP