KPK told to keep court documents confidential

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan warned the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) not to disclose the legal opinions of the Probosutedjo appeal case to other parties they were suppressed by law.

Bagir said that he and the two other justices handling the Probosutedjo case decided to let KPK take the copies of their legal opinions on the case with the understanding that KPK would only use them for its investigation into the alleged bribery case.

"According to the law, the legal opinion document is confidential," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

KPK investigators on Thursday launched searched the offices Bagir and the two other court justices Usman Karim and Parman Soeparman as part of the investigation into the high-profile bribery case. The investigators confiscated several documents during the search for evidence.

The three justices sit on the panel of judges handling the Probosutedjo appeal. There had been allegations that the justices received bribes from the businessman via his lawyer so that he could be acquitted from the alleged crime of embezzling reforestation funds.

Probosutedjo, who is also the half-brother of former president Soeharto, claimed he had disbursed some Rp 16 billion (US$1.6 million) in bribe money to judges at the district, high, and supreme courts, and also to prosecutors and court clerks. The Central Jakarta District Court in 2003 sentenced Probosutedjo to four years in jail for embezzling reforestation funds that caused the state to suffer some Rp 100 billion in losses. The Jakarta High Court later halved the prison term.

He graft case was in the process of appeal at the Supreme Court when the bribery allegations came to surface a month ago, where Probosutedjo's lawyer was caught redhanded by KPK investigators of handing over bribe money to Supreme Court staff.

There has been allegations that some Rp 5 billion had been allocated to Bagir.

The justices has denied the allegations.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court deputy for supervision Gunanto Suryono said that the court would start the probe into judges allegedly involved in the bribery case next week.

He said that the investigation would be led by justice Artidjo Alkostar.