High court upholds Puteh's verdict
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
An appeals court upheld on Thursday the 10-year jail sentence handed down to suspended Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam governor Abdullah Puteh following his conviction on corruption charges.
The Jakarta High Court's decision came after Puteh's lawyer, Tengku Syaifudin Popon, was allegedly caught red-handed paying a Rp 250 million (US$26,300) bribe to a Jakarta High Court clerk on Tuesday in what appeared to be an attempt to pervert the course of justice.
The Anticorruption Court in April imposed a 10-year sentence on Puteh, which he then appealed to the Jakarta High Court, after finding him guilty of graft in the 2001 purchase of a Russian- made MI-2 helicopter for the province, which inflicted losses of Rp 3.6 billion (US$400,800) on the state.
Popon's alleged bribery attempt, which was interrupted by investigators from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), once again highlights the problem of endemic corruption in the country's legal system.
The case, however, could open the way for the KPK to investigate the deep rooted abuses in the country's courts, where what has been termed a "court mafia" apparently holds sway.
Meanwhile, Jakarta High Court chief Ben Suhanda Syah met with the Supreme Court's judicial department head Mariana Sutadi on Thursday to discuss the case, with both of them claiming they had heard about it from news reports.
After the meeting, Ben was reluctant to comment on the case and what actions might be taken by the court against the clerk.
"The Supreme Court will conduct a follow-up investigation in this case," Ben said as quoted by hukumonline.com.
During a press conference held at the Supreme Court, Mariana said that she fully supported the move by the KPK to investigate the case.
She said that her office would take whatever action was necessary after the KPK completed its inquiries.
Mariana acknowledged that the alleged bribery attempt had inflicted further damage on the image of the country's courts.
Foreign investors have long urged the government to launch a comprehensive reform campaign to overhaul the chronically corrupt judicial system.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Lawyers Association (IPHI) said it would expel Popon and revoke his practice license if he was found guilty of attempted bribery.
Both Popon and the clerk, Syamsul Rizal, have been detained by the KPK, which apprehended the two at the clerk's office after receiving a tip-off from an undisclosed source.