Judge slams prosecutors in Buloggate trial

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.