Results of probe into collusion to be made public

JAKARTA (JP): The Supreme Court promised yesterday it would not cover up the findings of its investigation into the highly publicized bribery scandal involving senior judges.

Secretary General of the Supreme Court Toton Suprapto said the results of the investigation will be made available to the mass media after they consult President Soeharto.

He declined to say when Chief Justice Soerjono would meet the president to discuss the Supreme Court supervision team's findings.

"The Chief Justice will explicitly say whether the alleged collusion happened or did not happen. There won't be any ambiguity," Toton assured journalists.

He said that the chief justice had sent a letter to the state secretariat on Monday, asking it for an opportunity to discuss the investigation results.

The alleged collusion at the Supreme Court drew the public's attention in April, when a local magazine published a confidential letter by Deputy Chief Justice for General Crimes Adi Andojo Soetjipto asking the Central Jakarta Prosecutor's Office to review a document fraud case handled last year by the Supreme Court.

A group of Supreme Court judges, presided over by Samsoedin Aboebakar, had acquitted defendant Ram Gulumal of all charges of falsifying land procurement documents.

Adi had reportedly submitted plenty of evidence to back up his allegations of collusion, including a letter from the Supreme Court's Director for General Crimes, Sujatmi Soedarmoko, admitting she was involved in rearranging the group of judges to try the case.

The case, in terms of priority, should have been given to the Group H judges. However, it was tried by Group D. (imn)