Prosecutor's office drops request for case review

Prosecutor's office drops request for case review

JAKARTA (JP): A district court judge revealed yesterday that
the Central Jakarta Prosecutor's Office was in fact planning to
follow up on a letter received by Justice Adi Andojo Soetjipto,
who asked that a recent Supreme Court decision be reviewed.

I Gde Ketut Sukarata of the Central Jakarta District Court
said yesterday that the Central Jakarta Prosecutor's Office asked
the district court in December to review the Supreme Court's
verdict in the Gandhi Memorial School case.

According to judicial procedure in Indonesia, a lower court
has the authority to review the decision of a higher court if new
evidence is found by either the defendant or the prosecution.

The request was prompted by a letter written by Adi asking the
prosecutor's office to file a review of the case involving Ram
Gulumal, who was acquitted of document fraud charges. The team of
judges presiding over the case are believed to have accepted
bribes to dismiss the charges. Reports said that up to Rp 1.4
billion (US$600,000) may be involved.

Adi said he sent the letter because he was concerned by
irregularities in the Supreme Court, which he said include
widespread collusion and bribery.

Adi's move has drawn much criticism from the legal community,
as well as much praise.

Chief Justice Soerjono questioned whether a judge is allowed
to ask the prosecutor's office to file for a review of a court
decision that has already been handed down.

Sukarata said that the head of the Central Jakarta
Prosecutor's Office, Masduki, submitted the request to the
district court, which was preparing to follow up on the Supreme
Court decision.

"However, the prosecutor's office withdrew its request from
the district court a few days later, saying that it wanted to
improve the dossiers," he said.

Masduki was not available for comment yesterday. A staff
member at the Central Jakarta Prosecutor's Office told reporters
that Masduki was involved in several trials at the Central
Jakarta District Court.

Ram Gulumal, an Indian citizen and former principal of the
Gandhi Memorial School, was sentenced by the Central Jakarta
District Court in 1993 to one year in prison for falsifying
documents to acquire the land and permits for the new school.

Gulumal asked for an appeal in 1994. The verdict was upheld by
the Jakarta High Court but the sentence was reduced to eight
months. The case went to the Supreme Court in July, 1995.

Adi said in the letter that the Supreme Court's written
verdict contained several errors, including Gulumal's
citizenship.

"In the verdict, Gulumal was identified as an Indonesian
citizen," Adi said in a press conference on Sunday. "After the
verdict was handed down, the citizenship was changed to Indian,
which was typed in by the Supreme Court's director of general
crimes, Sujatmi Soedarmoko."

According to Adi, a verdict can be declared invalid if any
information or data are incorrect.

He also charged that the case should not have been handled by
the senior judges in Group D, which was chaired by Samsoedin
Aboebakar.

"It was also Sujatmi who gave the case to Group D," he said.
Sujatmi was unavailable for comment yesterday.(imn)