Supreme Court director claims judiciary works well

Supreme Court director claims judiciary works well

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Supreme Court appears to be turning a blind eye to corruption
allegations in the judiciary, playing down the controversial
sentences recently handed down to wealthy criminals, including
murderer Adiguna Sutowo, by the district courts.

Supreme Court director of law and judiciary affairs Suparno
admitted there had been questionable verdicts recently but
claimed the court system in current reform era was improving as
the national anticorruption drive got into gear.

The Supreme Court's own most recent verdict, the sudden and
inexplicable slashing on Friday of convicted murderer Hutomo
"Tommy" Mandala Putra's 15-year sentence to 10 years for the
murder of a high court judge, has also been slammed by legal
activists and lawyers.

While some of the verdicts might seem disproportionate to the
crimes, the judges' rulings and their independence should be
respected, Suparno said.

"The Supreme Court cannot interfere in the trials of cases and
in the decision-making process. It has to respect judges'
independence in trying all cases and making verdicts," he told
The Jakarta Post last week.

Suparno said the Supreme Court judges could understand the
public frustration and strong reaction to such controversial
court verdicts as the acquittal of businessman and Golkar Party
member Nurdin Halid on corruption charges and the imposition of a
light seven-year sentence on bartender murderer Adiguna.

Nurdin, who is also chairman of the Indonesian Distribution
Cooperatives (KDI), was cleared by the South Jakarta District
Court on a charge of misusing Rp 169.7 billion (US17.6 million)
in public money meant for the poor, after the panel of judges
said they did not find him guilty of violating the law.

Prosecutors had asked that Nurdin, charged with misusing aid
for the distribution of cooking oil to the poor from the National
Logistics Agency (Bulog) in 1998, be sentenced to 20 years in
prison, fined Rp 30 million (US$3,157) and return the embezzled
money.

Meanwhile, Adiguna, who faced a possible life sentence for
shooting dead a bartender at the Hilton Hotel and the maximum
death penalty for owning an illegal weapon, got only seven years
in jail.

Both Nurdin and Adiguna were tried at the South Jakarta
District Court, which is known for its notorious record of
acquitting big-time suspects or giving them lenient sentences.

Suparno said judges had their own reasons and legal
considerations for acquitting Nurdin and giving Adiguna a lighter
sentence than the prosecutors demanded.

"If the court verdicts are considered to have undermined the
public's sense of justice, prosecutors have the right to appeal
to the higher court and to the Supreme Court," he said.

However, appealing cases often seems to benefit the defendants
rather than the state. Along with its most recent controversial
decision on Tommy, the Supreme Court earlier drew harsh criticism
for its decision to overturn the three-year jail term of former
minister/state secretary and then-Golkar Party leader Akbar
Tandjung. He had been jailed by the Central Jakarta District
Court for his involvement in embezzling Rp 40 billion from Bulog.

Suparno claimed, however, that the judiciary system had
improved since the Supreme Court had intensified its role in
supervising lower courts handling high-profile cases.

It would also soon task a special team to take action against
judges found violating ethical and legal codes, he said.

"Besides improving the supervisory function, the Supreme Court
also carries out regular meetings with all judges to increase
cooperation between judges and their professionalism," Suparno
said.

He claimed that the Supreme Court listened to public
complaints about the judiciary system, which judges and lawyers
have openly admitted is riddled with graft.

Most recently, Tengku Syaifuddin Popon, a lawyer acting for
suspended Aceh governor and graft convict Abdullah Puteh, was
caught allegedly paying Rp 250 million in bribes to a Jakarta
High Court clerk in an apparent attempt to influence Puteh's
appeal.

Puteh is fighting a 10-year jail term handed down to him by
the Anticorruption Court for graft in the 2001 purchase of a
Russian-made MI helicopter.