KPK search Supreme Court again over bribery case
KPK search Supreme Court again over bribery case
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for a second time
searched a number of offices at the Supreme Court on Tuesday in a
bid to find more evidence in a high-profile bribery case
allegedly involving the court's justices.
KPK investigators searched the office of the head of the
Supreme Court's subdirectorate of case appeals and reviews Zarof
Richard and confiscated copies of court documents relating to the
appeal of businessman Probosutedjo.
Lauris Sauvanna Ramly, a staffer at the Supreme Court, was
quoted by news portal detik.com as saying that although some
Court officials were upset by the searches, they could do nothing
as the justices had agreed to cooperate with the KPK in its
investigation.
The KPK last week searched the offices of three Supreme Court
justices, including the room of Chief Justice Bagir Manan who led
the panel of justices handling the Probosutedjo appeal case. The
investigators confiscated various documents related to the appeal
including copies of the legal opinions of the three justices
relating to the matter.
Probosutedjo, who is the half-brother of former president
Soeharto, claimed that he had distributed Rp 16 billion ($1.6
million) to judges at the district court, high court and Supreme
Court in a bid to be acquitted of corruption. The funds, Rp 6
billion of which was reportedly allocated for Supreme Court
judges, were allegedly distributed through his lawyers and court
officials.
The Central Jakarta District Court in 2003 sentenced
Probosutedjo to four years in jail for embezzling reforestation
funds, but the Jakarta High Court later cut the sentence to two
years. The bribery case came to the surface after Probosutedjo's
lawyer handling the appeal, Harini Wijoso, was caught red-handed
by KPK investigators earlier this month giving money to Supreme
Court officials to bribe justices.
The judges claim they did not accept any bribes from
Probosutedjo.
Meanwhile, four Supreme Court justices were questioned on
Tuesday in relation to the bribery case. Like the two high court
judges who were previously grilled by the Supreme Court, Suparno
also insisted that he had never accepted any bribe from
Probosutedjo's lawyers. The lawyers handling the Probosutedjo
case at the high court on Monday denied claims made by the
businessman that they had arranged the transfer of money for the
judges.
"Suparno did not personally know Probosutedjo or his lawyer.
He claimed that he had never received any money from
Probosutedjo," Supreme Court Justice Djoko Sarwoko said after the
questioning.