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.