Supreme Court Justices fail to testify in bribery trial

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Prosecutors failed to present three Supreme Court Justices and two former justices at the Supreme Court as witnesses in the corruption case trial of a Jakarta High Court judge on Wednesday.

The Supreme Court Justices were R.L. Tobing, Soedarno and Marnis Kahar, while the former justices were M. Yahya Harahap and R.Sunu Wahadi. The five of them were scheduled to appear at Central District Court in the trial of Fauzatulo Zendrato.

The defendant is accused of receiving Rp 550 billion (US$55 million) in bribes from PT Surabaya Industrial Estate Rungkut, which claimed to have given the money to influence the justices to win a land dispute case involving the firm in 1998. At that time, the defendant was the head of the administration section at the Supreme Court.

"The justices were attending a meeting at the Supreme Court, therefore, they couldn't be present at the hearing," said presiding judge Bambang Sriwulan after he read a letter from the Supreme Court, which was handed over by prosecutor Agus Sutoto.

Instead of ordering the prosecutor to summon the witnesses again, the judge told him to read out the dossiers of the witnesses.

"We want the hearing to be finished as soon as possible," Bambang announced to the court.

In a different courtroom, prosecutors in the case of Ari Haryo Wibowo, popularly known as Ari Sigit, the grandson of former president Soeharto, also failed to present Gusti Maya Firanti Noor to testify against her ex-husband.

The reason for Maya's absence was not clear.

However, presiding judge Herri Swantoro told the prosecutors to read out her dossier and to present two other witnesses, Zulkarnain Ruslan, Ari's guard and Ani, Ari's maid.

According to Maya's dossier, read by prosecutor Johny Ginting, she once saw Ari with a gun, but she did not know the type. She also admitted that the blue backpack, in which some 70 bullets were found, was carried by her and Ari during a vacation to the U.S. in 1995.

Ari, 31, is being tried for allegedly possessing 70 bullets that were found in his house two months ago.

After the hearing, prosecutor Surung Aritonang told reporters that Maya's absence was legal.

"Maya could face possible psychological problems if she testifies against her former husband," he said.

Ari's lawyer, Juan Felix Tampubolon said the testimony was legal because the witness had sworn during the questioning of the dossier.