NGOs blast two court rulings on bribery cases

NGOs blast two court rulings on bribery cases

JAKARTA (JP): A coalition of watchdogs on legal affairs has
lashed out at two court's decisions to dismiss cases against
three Supreme Court justices who allegedly accepted bribes,
arguing it was an insult to people's sense of law and justice.

The Coalition of Judicial Corruption Watch urged the Supreme
Court on Friday to examine both the decisions and the judges who
handled the cases, and openly disclose the examination results to
the public.

Nizar Suhendra of the Indonesian Transparency Society (MTI)
argued that the rulings by judges of the West Jakarta District
Court and Central Jakarta District Court were a bad precedent for
the battle against widespread corruption in the country.

"From these decisions we can learn that lawyers can argue
against the anti-corruption law used by the prosecutors to charge
their clients," he told a media briefing at the Jakarta Legal Aid
Institute.

The West Jakarta District Court turned down the indictment
against retired Supreme Court justice Yahya M. Harahap on
Tuesday, stating that the prosecutor had charged him under the
wrong law. The prosecutor, according to Judge Suharyono, had
charged Harahap under the 1999 Anti-Corruption Law while the case
was covered by the 1971 Law, which is no longer valid.

On the same day, the Central Jakarta District Court dismissed
the trials of Supreme Court justices Supraptini Suprapto and
Marnis Kahar, who were charged for a similar crime in connection
to Harahap's case.

Rusdi As'ad, the presiding judge, said that the court had to
dismiss the trials of the two defendants as the indictments
"overlapped too much and were inaccurate".

He said the prosecutors could not charge the suspects under
both the 1971 Anti-Corruption Law and the Criminal Code, but had
to choose either one.

The three, who allegedly accepted a total of Rp 196 million
(some US$16,800) from a middleman in connection with a land case
they were handling in 1998, were also charged under Criminal Code
articles for allegedly accepting bribes in their capacity as
judges and for reportedly receiving gifts as state officials.

The coalition of watchdogs argued that the judges' arguments
were illogical because the new Anti-Corruption Law did not
replace the old one and that, by law, it was appropriate for
prosecutors to combine charges in a corruption case.

Asep Rahmat from the Indonesia Society for Judicial Watch
(MaPPI) said that there was nothing wrong with the indictments
and should there be uncertainties in the laws covering the case,
he challenged the judges to settle it.

"The judges have to be brave enough to make their own judgment
in battling corruption, and the public should also be taught that
judges have the authority to make such a breakthrough," he said.

Nizar underlined the urgency for a special corruption
tribunal, one free from any interest and influence since graft
cases could involve both state institutions and members of the
judiciary.

Separately, Judge Binsar Gultom, who is secretary of the Bogor
chapter of Association of Indonesian Judges (IKAHI), said in a
statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Friday that both
the judges and the prosecutors had to decide upon a common
concept on compiling indictments in a bid to avoid further
accusations of a conspiracy among judges to protect their own
kind. (bby)