Judge slams prosecutors in Buloggate trial
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Presiding judge Lalu Mariyun slammed prosecutors on Tuesday for attempting to oppose the South Jakarta District Court's plan to hear the testimony of former president B.J. Habibie via videoconference in the trial of former chief of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) Rahardi Ramelan.
The court had planned to hear Habibie's testimony live through videoconference later this month. Chief prosecutor Kemas Yahya Rahman had also said that his office supported the videoconference idea although he preferred to present Habibie's statement before the hearing.
However, he said on Tuesday that his office rejected the idea as it would be financed by a third party.
"How could a court accept public participation to conduct the hearing?" Kemas said, referring to assistance offered by SCTV.
The question apparently irked Judge Lalu.
"There is no back room deal between the court and the television company. A videoconference could be a good start for our future criminal courts, so why don't we do it?" he replied.
"Prosecutors earlier said that they had no money. The problem is solved and now you are complaining about another thing."
Kemas quickly said that he did not mean to irritate the judges and that he would obey the judges decision.
Judge Lalu later told reporters that the court will issue a decision next week about the videoconference.
Rahardi's lawyer Trimoelja D. Soerjadi demanded the court conduct the videoconference because the lawyers would not have a chance to cross examine Habibie if prosecutors only read his statement.
The former president is a key witness against Rahardi, who went on trial for allegedly misusing Rp 62.9 billion (about US$ 7.27 million) of Bulog's non-budgetary funds in 1999.
The former state secretary/minister Akbar Tandjung obtained Rp 40 billion of the funds purportedly for a charitable project, under Habibie's instructions. Many alleged that the money was channeled to finance the Golkar party campaign before the 1999 election.
Akbar, who is now House Speaker, is being tried in the same case. Prosecutors presented Habibie's statement before the court at his trial at the Central Jakarta District Court.