High court chief orders inquiry into whistle-blower
High court chief orders inquiry into whistle-blower
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The head of the Jakarta High Court, M. Ridwan Nasution, has
ordered an inquiry into a lawyer who accused a judge of
extortion.
In a letter signed Jan. 10, Nasution asked the head of the
South Jakarta District Court, Lalu Mariyun, to question lawyer
Wawan Iriawan, who earlier filed a complaint against judge Torang
H. Tampubolon over alleged extortion.
The letter, which said there was no evidence supporting
Wawan's accusation against the judge, was made available to the
media on Tuesday. The letter also bans the lawyer from handling
cases under the district court's jurisdiction pending the results
of the inquiry.
Mariyun said he had not yet read the letter.
"I have to learn what is in the letter first before taking any
decision on the matter," he said on Tuesday.
Wawan Iriawan, who at the time was representing PT Setya Teguh
Persada, filed a complaint with the city police and the Supreme
Court last month against Torang, who is a judge with the South
Jakarta District Court.
The judge was hearing a commercial dispute involving PT Setya
Teguh Persada and PT Asri Kencana Gemilang.
Wawan admitted giving Torang a Nokia 8855 cellular phone at
the latter's request. In two later meetings at a hotel, according
to Wawan, Torang demanded Rp 3 billion in exchange for a ruling
in favor of PT Setya Teguh Persada.
Wawan says he refused to pay the judge, and PT Setya Teguh
Persada eventually lost the case.
Separately, the chairman of the Advocates Association of Human
Rights, Dorma Sinaga, demanded the Indonesian Ethics Council of
the Advocates Profession Commission try Wawan Iriawan, who he
suspected violated the profession's ethics code.
Sinaga referred to Article 8, Line 7 of the Lawyers' Code of
Ethic, which states that during a trial a lawyer is only allowed
to meet with judge(s) together with the opposing counsel.
There have been two recent similar cases involving accusations
of bribery and corruption against members of the legal system.
Last year, the courts gave a middleman at the Supreme Court,
Endin Wahyudin, a prison sentence for defaming two of the Court's
justices and one retired justice. The middleman had filed a
report with a now-defunct anticorruption investigation team,
accusing the three of bribery. The trial of the three justices
has been halted.
In another case, prosecutor Kito Irkhamnie filed a report
about the alleged hidden wealth of Attorney General M.A. Rachman
with the Public Servants Wealth Audit Commission. Kito was
arrested as is now in detention at Cipinang prison in East
Jakarta.