Legal experts to review Akbar verdict

Legal experts to review Akbar verdict

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Controversy surrounding the acquittal of Golkar Party chairman
Akbar Tandjung has driven a group of legal experts to examine the
judges' verdict.

The move tops the agenda of legal watchdog Forum 2004, which
was established on Tuesday to monitor law enforcement agencies
and their efforts to stamp out widespread corruption in the
country.

Forum coordinator Romli Atmasasmita said the examination of
the Supreme Court's verdict that exonerated Akbar from corruption
charges was a must to end the controversy among the public.

"It was not originally on our to-do list but we believe we
have to do it because the verdict has created such controversy,"
Romli, a lecturer of Bandung's Padjadjaran University, said.

The examination would cover all the events leading up to the
court's verdict in the Akbar case, starting from prosecutors'
indictment, Romli said.

The results of the probe would be publicly announced.

"We hope it can serve as a starting point for this country's
efforts to prevent more scandals from taking place," Romli said.

According to the law, the Supreme Court verdict is final and
no one can stand trial for the same charges.

Akbar was exonerated after four of the five-member panel of
judges considered the party chairman, in his capacity as the
minister and state secretary, was executing the orders of then-
president B.J. Habibie. While he was faulted for his inept
accounting practises there was insufficient evidence to prove
Akbar knew about the corruption underneath him, the judges said.

Prosecutors had accused Akbar of embezzling Rp 40 billion in
non-budgetary state funds allocated for a food-for-the-poor
program in East Java.

District and high courts earlier had found Akbar and two other
men, Dadang Sukandar and Winfried Simatupang, guilty of
embezzlement. While Supreme Court exonerated Akbar it upheld the
lower court's verdict on Dadang and Winfried and both began
serving their sentences last week.

The prosecutors did not trace the ultimate beneficiaries of
the money, which was disbursed in 15 checks and was cashed by one
person between March and April 1999, a few months before the
general election.

The person used a bogus ID card to cash the funds through the
now defunct Bank Exim and the private Bank Duta, according to the
prosecutors.

Romli said the forum would also propose a National Plan of
Action to Combat Corruption (NPACC) to the country's next
president and planned to develop a network with regional and
international bodies to create an antigraft campaign.

Attending the declaration at the National Legal Development
Agency (BPHN) office in East Jakarta, were, among others, BPHN
chairman Sunaryati Hartono, Public Officials' Wealth Audit
Commission (KPKPN) chairman Jusuf Syakir, international law
expert Hikmahanto Juwana, criminal law expert Loebby Loqman,
Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) coordinator Teten Masduki and
chairman of the Indonesian Arbitration Body (BANI) Priyatna
Abdurrasyid.