Judges need to jail corruptors promptly: Expert
Judges need to jail corruptors promptly: Expert
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A string of recent cases have shown fat cat convicts escaping
justice with ease. How to prevent the recurrence of such cases?
An expert has suggested that judges should send convicted
corruptors straight to prison.
"Such action is imperative as the country's law enforcers have
often failed to enforce the law and instead exploited legal
loopholes," said Rudy Satrio of the University of Indonesia
school of law over the weekend.
A number of high-profile corruptors have disappeared but have
managed to order their lawyers to appeal or seek judicial review
from higher courts.
The latest case involved corruptor Samadikun Hartono who
disappeared after being sentenced by the Supreme Court to four
years in prison after being found guilty of embezzling Rp 1.7
trillion (US$ 200 million) of Bank Indonesia liquidity support
(BLBI) funds.
Samadikun asked his lawyers at OC Kaligis and Partners law
firm to seek a judicial review while he was at large.
According to the Criminal Procedures Code, a convict who seeks
judicial review must attend a hearing in a district court before
the case is heard by the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Bagir Manan had also raised this issue but the
Central Jakarta District Court presented his hearing last week
without Samadikun's presence.
"The court must reject his case. The defendant fled justice,
it means he did not obey the country's legal system. Why should
the court hear the case of someone who defies the law?" he asked.
Unfortunately, it was not the first case. In 2001, the Supreme
Court ruled in favor of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, who sought
a judicial review for his Rp 95.4 billion graft case involving
the State Logistics Body (Bulog) while he was still at large.
Tommy's case constitutes one of the most absurd legal cases in
the country, loaded with rumors of bribery involving the police,
state prosecutors and judges.
Earlier, businessmen Sjamsul Nursalim and Bambang Sutrisno who
were also found guilty of embezzling BLBI funds, ordered their
lawyers to appeal to higher courts after a district court tried
them in absentia in separate cases.
A recent case involving businessman David Nusa Wijaya, owner
of the now-defunct Bank Servitia, is similar. David disappeared
after being sentenced to one year in prison by a district court
after being found guilty of embezzling Rp 1.27 trillion in BLBI
funds. He too had ordered his lawyers to file an appeal although
nobody knew of his whereabouts.
"It is a bad development for the country's legal enforcement
as common people would think that justice can be bought," Rudy
said.
The Criminal Procedures Code permits a fugitive to appeal
through his lawyers, as their attendance is not needed while
their cases are heard by higher courts.
Rudy called for the establishment of a legislation, barring
fugitive convicts from filing an appeal or seeking a judicial
review.
"The country must consistently punish the convicts first
before allowing them to appeal or file for a judicial review," he
said.
There is provision for this in the Criminal Code, however, the
charges only carry a maximum penalty of six months in prison.
Worse still, legal enforcers rarely impose the article on
fugitive convicts who are rearrested. One of those rare cases
involved Tommy.
"Lawmakers must increase the maximum penalty for the charges.
But what we really need is the commitment from law enforcers to
uphold the law seriously," Rudy said.