Rahardi's trial to be handle by panel of 'generous' judge
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The judges set to handle the graft trial of former State Logistics Agency (Bulog) chief Rahardi Ramelan next Tuesday in the South Jakarta District Court are no strangers to controversy.
Judge Lalu Mariyun, who refused to try former President Soeharto on corruption charges on the grounds that he was too old to stand trial, will preside in the case and be accompanied by associate judges Abdul Madjid Rahim and IDG Putra Jadnya.
The panel of judges was selected by Lalu in his capacity as the South Jakarta District Court chief.
Rahardi, who was also the minister of industry and trade at the time in question, will be tried for his alleged role in the Rp 54.6 billion (about US$5.2 million) misuse of Bulog non-budgetary state funds. The high profile case also involves Golkar Party leader and House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung.
In September 2000, Lalu acquitted Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra and businessman Ricardo Gelael of corruption charges in the high-profile Bulog land scam deal, which caused the state to suffer losses of Rp 95.4 billion.
The Supreme Court on appeal later found both Tommy and Ricardo guilty and sentenced each of them to 18 months in jail.
M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, one of the Supreme Court justices in the case, was shot death last year and Tommy is scheduled to stand trial for his murder on March. 20 in the Central Jakarta District Court.
Following Tommy and Ricardo's conviction, the Supreme Court in a subsequent review did an about-face and acquitted the two defendants of all graft charges.
Lalu also indefinitely recessed a corruption case worth US$571 million against Soeharto in September 2000 because of the defendant's ill health.
Last week, he rejected on the same grounds a request from the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office to reopen the Soeharto case.
Last year, Lalu presided over a panel of judges that sentenced former Bulog chief Beddu Amang to two years in jail and ordered him to pay Rp 5 billion in compensation for causing the state losses of Rp 20 billion in the Bulog land scam deal.
The track records of the associate judges are no less controversial.
Two years ago, Abdul ruled in favor of defendant Hendra Rahardja, the chief commissioner of the now-defunct Bank BHS, who filed a lawsuit against the police for his detention by Interpol in Australia on document forgery suspicions.
Hendra is currently being tried in absentia by the Central Jakarta District Court for allegedly misusing over Rp 305 billion and US$2.304 million of Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) funds.
The Supreme Court overturned the district court's verdict in the Abdul case, and ruled that his detention in Australia was lawful.
Two years ago, Abdul acquitted Djoko S. Tjandra, a former director of PT Era Giat Prima (PT EGP), of graft charges related to the Bank Bali scandal, which caused the state losses of Rp 564 billion.
Judge Jadnya presided over a panel of judges that last year acquitted Zaenal Agus, a judge of the Jakarta High Court, of bribery charges.
Jadnya was also one of the judges who acquitted former Bank Aspac president Hendrawan Harjono of graft that caused the state losses of Rp 583.4 billion. The panel of judges, instead, sentenced Hendrawan to one year in jail and fined him Rp 500 million for violating banking laws.
Rahardi, who has been detained in Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta since last month, is charged under Anticorruption Law No.3/1971 and Anticorruption Law No. 31/1999. The 1999 law carries a maximum sentence of death, life or 20-years imprisonment depending on the charges and circumstances, and a minimum sentence of four years.