President set to decide Adi Andojo's fate
President set to decide Adi Andojo's fate
JAKARTA (JP): The government yesterday confirmed that Chief
Justice Soerjono has sought to dismiss Justice Adi Andojo
Soetjipto, who recently blew the whistle on bribery and collusion
in the Supreme Court.
Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono said yesterday that
Soerjono wrote to President Soeharto proposing that Adi Andojo be
sacked. The proposal was signed by the Chief Justice and other
judges on June 24.
The minister's statement is the first official confirmation of
Adi's possible dismissal, following weeks of speculation on Adi's
fate.
Moerdiono cited Law No. 14, 1985 and government regulation No.
26, 1991 for the procedures and circumstances under which Supreme
Court judges could be fired.
Chief justice or a justice may request dismissals for the
following reasons: the justice in question is either deceased,
ill, or unable to perform his duty.
Soerjono allegedly proposed Adi's dismissal on grounds of
"poor conduct" and for besmirching the Supreme Court's "good
name."
Justice Adi said yesterday he believed the President would
make a sound and elaborate judgment, taking all things into
consideration.
He added that he would accept the consequences of his
dismissal.
"My sacking does not end the problem (of rampant collusion in
the Court), does it?" Adi retorted, adding that he would continue
attending his office until the President made a decision.
"Whatever the President's decision is, a report would be
submitted to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the
House of Representatives (DPR)," Moerdiono said.
The minister's statement responded to earlier remarks by some
legislators who felt the Supreme Court had been acting
independently, leaving the House out of the decision-making
process.
"Don't treat this institution (the House) like a post office
where we are expected to seal stamps of agreement and let
everything proceed without further supervision," legislator
Hamzah Haz of the United Development Party said earlier.
Adi was reprimanded by Soerjono for publicly accusing some
justices of colluding with the defendant in a land acquisition
dispute over the Gandhi Memorial School project in Jakarta.
Adi charged that some judges had been offered a Rp 1.4 billion
(US$600,000) bribe in the fraud case against Ram Gulumal, an
Indian citizen who was the principal of the North Jakarta school.
Soerjono has stated that there was no collusion in the Supreme
Court, but admitted that there was a "violation of procedure" in
the way the fraud case was parceled out to the wrong panel of
judges: as stated in the 1,561-page report on the case written by
the court's investigation team.
Adi earlier sparked more controversy by accusing Chief Justice
Soerjono of covering up the bribery scandal. (14)