Lawyers warned against back-room deals
Lawyers warned against back-room deals
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan urged lawyers on Tuesday
to abandon back-room deals with judges to win their clients'
cases, for the sake of a clean judiciary.
"I certainly hope lawyers can win cases because of their
skills in legal affairs and because of their respect for their
profession," Bagir said in his address to members of the
Indonesian Advocate Working Committee (KKAI), which oversees all
eight bar associations in the country.
He made little mention of those who might receive the bribes
-- the court judges -- the other part of the corruption equation.
The event was attended by several well-paid, high-profile
lawyers, including Hotman Paris Hutapea, O.C. Kaligis and Deny
Kailimang.
Bagir reminded the group approaching judges for the benefit of
their clients violated a lawyers' code of ethics.
The Supreme Court has circulated a notification that bans
lawyers from privately meeting judges in the Supreme Court or the
lower courts.
"But of course O.C. (Kaligas) can still come here if he wants
to bring me some books," Bagir said in jest. Kaligis has
represented several high-profile businessmen and officials
implicated in corruption.
Corruption watchdogs have long accused lawyers of taking part
in the country's notorious court "mafia", where litigants and
defendants often give money or gifts to judges through lawyers to
secure a verdict.
In 2001, former attorney general Baharuddin Lopa said from his
experience many lawyers in Indonesia had forwarded bribes from
their clients to prosecutors and judges to win cases.
Last year, a lawyer made a public confession he had given a
cellphone to a judge at the South Jakarta District Court, in
exchange for the judge's verdict in favor of his client.
The lawyer leaked the back-room deal after the judge failed to
fulfill his promise.
Many have also questioned the commercial court's decision to
declare international insurance company Manulife bankrupt last
year.
In his speech, Bagir warned all law enforcers, and lawyers,
against abuses of power as corruption would "further weaken
people's faith in the justice system". He did not mention
punishments for corrupt judges.
He also criticized lawyers for opting to reside and operate in
major cities.
Lawyers were often interested in big money, high-profile
cases, involving corruption or embezzlement, which involved
trillions of rupiah. They were not so interested in helping
justice seekers from poorer rural areas, Bagir said.
This practice helped create the wrong image -- that justice
"exclusively belongs to the rich and those who live in big
cities".
Bagir said people in remote areas had been long neglected,
despite the fact most of them were powerless when it came to
legal disputes.
He suggested lawyers, particularly well-paid ones, helped
develop legal aid institutes across the country for the poor.
Many institutes under the auspices of the Indonesian Legal Aid
Institute (YLBHI) have closed their offices after foreign donors
stopped their aid a few years ago.