Judge feeling heat in bribery case

Judge feeling heat in bribery case

JAKARTA: City Police Anti-Corruption section questioned on
Friday a witness in an alleged case of bribery in which Torang, a
judge at the South Jakarta District court, reportedly sought a
bribe from a plaintiff appearing before his court.

The witness, Murody who is also an employee of law firm
Wiranto & Co told reporters following the police interrogation
that he had submitted a Nokia 8855 type cellular phone along with
prepaid card costing in total Rp 5.35 million (US$600) to judge
Torang in the latter's office on Aug.8, last year.

Late last year, Judge Torang was reported to police by Wawan
Iriawan, a lawyer with Wiranto & Co representing PT Setya Teguh
Persada, a plaintiff appearing before Torang court in a
commercial dispute with PT Asri Kencana Gemilang. Torang
reportedly had asked for an additional Rp 3 billion
(approximately US$330,000) in exchange for a ruling in favor of
the company.

PT Setya and its lawyers refused to be extorted and shortly
thereafter lost the case.

Torang has been temporarily suspended from handling any cases
by the Supreme Court until the investigation of the bribery is
resolved. It has also assigned a deputy chief justice to carry
out a separate investigation of the case. --JP