New judges to hear Probo case
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.