Manulife judge to file suit against govt

Manulife judge to file suit against govt

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Hasan Basri, one of the three judges who tried the high-profile
case involving the local unit of Canadian insurance giant
Manulife Financial, hinted on Wednesday he would file a lawsuit
with the Jakarta State Administrative Court against the
government for its decision to suspend him over bribery
allegations.

"I was surprised to hear Pak Yusril's decision (to suspend me)
because I was the one who opposed the other two judges' decision
to declare PT Asuransi Jiwa Manulife Indonesia (AJMI) bankrupt,"
Hasan said during a media conference, referring to Minister of
Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra.

Hasan said his opposition to the decision of the other two
judges was based on his consideration that the case should be
heard by the district court, not the commercial court.

Minister Yusril announced on Tuesday night the three Manulife
judges -- Hasan, Ch. Kristi Purnamiwulan and Tjahyono -- were
suspended from duty pending an investigation into allegations
that they were bribed to declare the insurance firm bankrupt.

The decision to suspend the judges was made during a meeting
between Yusril and President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who approved
the decree suspending the three judges based on Government
Regulation No. 30/1980 on the civil service and Government
Regulation No. 26/1991 on the procedures for the removal of
judges.

Yusril said an investigative team set up by his ministry had
found indications of criminal actions by the three judges, and
had suggested that the case be handed over to the National Police
for further investigation.

Hasan's lawyer, Firman Wijaya, said the commercial court's
bankruptcy ruling was made after his client -- who was the
presiding judge -- was outvoted by the other two judges, who
insisted that AJMI be declared bankrupt.

Hasan refused to answer the question of whether his opposition
to the two other judges' position came after he met with one of
Manulife's lawyers prior to issuing the verdict on June 13.

"No, I refuse to answer that question," Hasan said.

Firman also accused Yusril of failing to follow legal
procedure, saying sanctions against the three judges could only
be imposed after they were allowed to defend themselves before
the judges honorary council, set up by the Supreme Court and the
Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.

He was referring to articles 20 and 22 of Law No. 2/1986 on
the civil court, which stipulate that sanctions can be imposed on
judges who have violated the law and their oaths as judges only
after a hearing with the honorary council.

"Until now, Pak Hasan has not been heard by the council, so
how could the minister (Yusril) impose the same sanction against
the three judges despite their different stances?" Firman asked.

The lawyer accused Yusril of overstepping his authority in
suspending the judges, considering that "Law No. 35/1999, which
is a revision of Law No. 14/1970 on judicial authority,
stipulates that all judicial institutions are under the
supervision of the Supreme Court".

Echoing Firman was Supreme Court justice Toton Suprapto, who
is also the chairman of the Indonesian Judges Association. He
said "the minister must consider this (1999) law because any
violation of its articles will only cause judges to suffer".

Although he refused to call Yusril's decision a political one,
Toton suggested "Pak Hasan file a lawsuit against it".

Wasingatu Zakiyah of the Indonesian Corruption Watch's
judiciary monitoring division, however, defended Yusril's
decision, and blamed the Supreme Court for failing to take
control of the case.

But she regretted the government's decision was made in
response to such a high-profile case that had drawn the
international community's attention.