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