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)