Judicial corruption not only rampant but also shameful
Judicial corruption not only rampant but also shameful
Frans H. Winarta, Jakarta
In the midst of the anticorruption campaign introduced by
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in his first year term of
office, an incident occurred at the Supreme Court recently in
which a lawyer and five staff members of the Supreme Court were
involved in an attempt to bribe Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir
Manan. This scandal has proven again that judicial corruption is
still rampant in Indonesia.
People who often have to deal with courts or other law
enforcement offices, will easily see the above mentioned
practices occurring in the day to day proceedings at the courts.
It is no secret that businessmen who have legal cases in court
reserve a budget to be allocated for judges or prosecutors
through their lawyers who act as brokers. Local and international
companies often have to be involved in the dirty practice. Both
local and international companies are often trapped into the
habit of legitimizing illegal practices.
The forms are various such as bribery, fraud, improper
influence, inducements and interference in the form of providing
travel packages for the said officers and their families,
housing, jewelry, money, sex and leisure, entertainment, golf
club membership and so forth. This is usually carried out by
their respective lawyers.
The rational behind bribery is usually based on the perception
that they will lose the case if they do not practice the above
tricks. Many judges complain and allegedly accuse lawyers of
being provocateurs.
Meanwhile, the Lawyers Act does not prohibit ex judges, ex
prosecutors, ex police officers and ex topnotch government
officials and military officials from becoming lawyers. During
the debate in the House of Representatives on the draft bill of
the Lawyers Act many factions did not agree to prohibiting ex-law
enforcement agencies and ex government and military officials
from becoming lawyers.
The reason for the restriction is to prevent collusion among
lawyers and judges. Those who have past relations are susceptible
to collusion and intervention. This is the result of passing a
law based on group interests rather than the people's interests.
As we can see from the two recent incidents involving suspended
Aceh governor Abdullah Puteh's and Probosutedjo's lawyers it is
about time to amend the Lawyers Act.
The establishment of the Corruption Eradication Team about a
year ago is meaningless to corruptors and those who are involved
in judicial corruption. This is proven by the scandalous
Probosutedjo case at the Supreme Court in which a retired judge
of the High Court of Yogyakarta was involved in giving money to
five members of the Supreme Court staff which was allegedly
intended to be given to Chief Justice Bagir Manan.
This allegation was denied by Bagir Manan who headed the panel
of judges of the Probosutedjo case in which Probosutedjo had been
found guilty by the lower courts of siphoning off a large portion
of the reforestation fund for himself. While, in the case of
Abdullah Puteh, his lawyer was caught red-handed when he
delivered money to an official of the Jakarta High Court.
Corruption has caused legal uncertainty. From the application
of permits, purchasing land, business permits, building permits
to the forming of a company, all require various illegal
payments.
The slow progress of the corruption eradication program is
caused by the lack of political will of the Cabinet members and
other senior government officials. They do not fully support the
program as reflected by the absence of an internal anticorruption
program.
Another obstacle could be the forming of the Corruption
Eradication Team, because its presence has reduced the authority
of Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) as a super body which
can take over corruption cases from the police or the
prosecutor's office if they have not handled the case seriously.
At the same time the KPK is entitled to apply the reverse burden
of proof, to tap telephones, to reveal the suspect's bank
account, to utilize photostat records and electronic banking as
evidence, to apply a travel ban, to detain a suspect, and other
extraordinary rights to uphold the law.
The idea of appointing the KPK as a super body was based on
the understanding that corruption is considered an extraordinary
crime and therefore must be handled differently from an ordinary
crime. That is why, the KPK has been given so many extraordinary
powers.
It is high time that the President evaluated the performance
of the Corruption Eradication Team. If he finds the team to be
ineffective, he must retract the presidential decree and
reinstate the KPK's original function.
What has been done by the lawyers association in the light of
the fact that two lawyers have been involved in such scandalous
incidents?. Practically nothing. It is public knowledge that the
practice of lawyers acting as brokers for their clients is
perceived nowadays as the norm.
Lawyers who refuse to act as brokers are considered stupid,
idealist, abnormal and become a target of derision and ridicule.
At a time when the government, NGOs, law enforcement agencies
such as the police, prosecutors and judges are discuss good
corporate governance and trying to implement it, the lawyers
associations are silent. They are not interested in institutional
reform.
Indonesia cannot enforce the law without a clean and honest
advocates profession and law enforcement agencies.
The writer is the chairman of the Indonesian Legal Studies
Foundation (ILSeF).