New judges to hear Probo case

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Supreme Court has set up a new five-judge panel to handle the appeal case of businessman Probosutedjo amid allegations that the previous panel of three justices had received bribe money from latter, who is former president Soeharto's half-brother.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan was quoted by state- run news agency Antara as saying on Thursday that the new judges were appointed on Monday, but they had yet to start working on the case because of the Idul Fitri holiday.

The new panel is led by Iskandar Kamil, and he will be assisted by Atja Senjaya, Regina Purba, Djoko Sarwoko and Harifin A. Tumpak.

Bagir explained that the change was necessary because the legal opinions on the case issued by the previous three justices had been leaked out after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) launched a raid into the offices of the justices and confiscated the copies of those legal opinions.

"The legal opinion is a confidential document. Once it is opened, then we have to get a new panel of justices (for the case)," said Bagir, who personally led the previous three-judge panel.

The KPK is currently investigating allegations that Probosutedjo, who was convicted on graft charges by lower courts, had disbursed bribe money via his lawyers to judges at the district court, high court and the Supreme Court in a bid to be acquitted from a graft charge.

Probosutedjo claims that he had allocated Rp 16 billion in bribe money, some Rp 6 billion of which went to the Supreme Court, while the other Rp 10 billion went to judges and prosecutors at the lower courts.

The Supreme Court justices have denied the allegations.

Probosutedjo was given a four-year prison sentence by the Central Jakarta District Court in 2003, but the sentence was later halved by the Jakarta High Court. The Supreme Court was in the process of completing the appeal case when the bribery allegations emerged.

The alleged bribery case, which highlights the country's corrupt courts system, came to the fore when the KPK arrested Harini Wiyoso, a lawyer for Probosutedjo, as she was about to pay Rp 1 billion to five Supreme Court staff members. The KPK has arrested Harini and the five clerks.