Rahardi's trial to be handle by panel of 'generous' judge
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.