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.