KPK questions two judges

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Two Jakarta High Court judges were questioned on Thursday as witnesses in a bribery investigation involving a lawyer of graft convict Abdullah Puteh, the suspended Aceh governor.

Sudiro and Husaeni Andinkasim arrived at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) office at 8:30 a.m. for eight hours of questioning in connection with the bribery case against Tengku Syaifudin Popon.

Popon was reportedly caught red-handed trying to pay a Rp 250 million bribe in June to deputy court clerks Ramadhan Rizal and M. Soleh in what appeared to be an attempt to pervert the course of justice.

Popon's alleged bribery attempt, which was interrupted by KPK investigators, once again highlights the problem of endemic corruption in the country's legal system.

Popon and the clerks have been detained by the KPK, which apprehended the two clerks after receiving a tip-off from an undisclosed source.

The two questioned judges were among those in charge of dealing with the appeal case by Abdullah Puteh against in his 10- year jail term handed down by the Anticorruption Court in April.

Judge Husaeni has denied any wrongdoing. "I don't know who Popon and Said Salim (a court clerk from the North Sumatra High Court also linked to the case) are," Husaini said after the questioning.

After the bribery case was uncovered, the Jakarta High Court upheld Puteh's 10-year jail verdict.

The Anticorruption Court convicted Puteh of corruption in the 2001 purchase of a Russian-made MI-2 helicopter for Aceh, which inflicted losses of Rp 3.6 billion (US$400,800) on the state.

The court also imposed a Rp 500 million fine on Puteh and ordered him to pay Rp 1 billion in compensation to the government.

Puteh has appealed to the Supreme Court.