Lawyers accused of harassing House
Lawyers accused of harassing House
JAKARTA (JP): A hearing over the high-profile scandal in the
National Logistics Agency (Bulog) at the House of Representatives
turned into a bitter argument on Monday.
The exchange of rude words centered on the refusal of the
lawyers of Siti Farikha, a witness in the financial scandal, to
allow their client to testify before the House's special
committee tasked with investigating the case.
The lawyers Indra Sahnun Lubis and Hefer Hariandja insisted
they had to be present with their client, defying the
legislators.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan)'s
legislator Alex Litaay started the altercation by asking the
lawyers to leave the meeting hall. The previous hearing on
Wednesday was delayed after another witness, Teti Nursetiati,
wife of the main suspect Suwondo, had also refused to testify
without the presence of her lawyers.
Offended by the order to leave, Hefer struck back, saying:
"You know you are here to represent the people and me. You must
not do such a thing because you are paid by the people."
Both Hefer and Indra approached Alex with clenched hands.
"Our job is to accompany our client to provide her with legal
protection," Indra almost screamed.
The two lawyers were outraged when Alex said the summons had
nothing to do with their client's human rights or legal
protection.
The committee chairman Bachtiar Chamsyah suspended the hearing
following the chaos. He regretted the incident and said he would
report it to the House leaders.
"We have yet to decide if it is a contempt of parliament but
it's clearly a harassment of the House. We will ask the House
leaders to follow up this matter," he said.
Alex declined to comment on the incident but called on the
House leaders to take the law and the House's internal rulings
into account when judging the incident.
Teti, who was also scheduled to testify, insisted she would
not meet the House's demand without her lawyers.
"I do not dare to do so before the committee which has many
members," she said.
Another legislator, Ade Komaruddin, warned Farikha and Teti
that they could face a maximum of one year in jail for refusing
to testify before the special committee, as stipulated in a 1954
law.
He said besides the law, the House's internal rulings also
allowed the special committee to question the two witnesses
without the presence of their lawyers.
Separately, House Speaker Akbar Tandjung said the House was
allowed to use force in getting the witnesses to testify.
"We are considering every possibility to bring in the
witnesses without their lawyers' presence," he said.
But he stressed that the committee could conclude its
investigation without hearing the testimony of both Teti and
Siti. (45/rms/jun)