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)