Judges reported to commission

JAKARTA: The judges who convicted a House of Representatives lawmaker for embezzling state money allocated for aerial mapping of forests were reported on Tuesday to the Judicial Commission and accused of issuing a "politically motivated verdict".

"We sensed the unfairness and discrimination since the start of the investigation. The trial was a use of force," Zulhendri Hasan, the lawyer for former chairman of the Association of Indonesian Forest Concessionaires (APHI), Adiwarsita Adinegoro, who was sentenced to six years in prison.

Zulhendri said the three judges who heard his client's case had failed to take into account the witnesses who testified for the defendant.

The lawyer said one of the judges had hinted that he had no choice but to declare Golkar Party lawmaker Adiwarsita guilty because of outside intervention.

Adiwarsita was convicted of channeling US$18.47 million worth of aerial mapping funds to third parties, including House legislators and a charity foundation named Raudlatul Jannah. A court found the foundation had set up a fictitious charity program in 1999, the same one that implicated then Golkar leader Akbar Tandjung. Akbar was later acquitted by the Supreme Court. -- Antara