Supreme Court muddies waters in Akbar case

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Supreme Court (MA) justices handling House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung's appeal of his corruption conviction, confused court observers on Monday by releasing conflicting statements on when they would issue a decision on the appeal.

"I told you we haven't finished hearing the case," Justice Paulus Effendy Lotulung, who leads the panel of five justices hearing Akbar's appeal, said.

He said he had yet to obtain complete legal opinions from panel members Parman Suparman, Arbijoto, Muchsin and Abdul Rahman Saleh.

According to the court's procedures, the head of the panel of justices must obtain legal opinions from each panel member before deciding whether to hear an appeal.

However, Abdul Rahman said Paulus had earlier told the four other justices on the panel to meet this week to debate Akbar's appeal.

"He told us to schedule our meeting. It was supposed to be this Monday, but we were too busy," he said.

Akbar, who is also chairman of the country's second largest political party, Golkar, filed an appeal with the Supreme Court over his three-year jail sentence for corruption. If the court rejects his appeal, it would put an end to Akbar's presidential ambitions.

Abdul Rahman, former head of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, had said a decision on Akbar's appeal was due this week.

The Supreme Court has rarely made public its decisions on appeals, despite a stipulation in the Criminal Code Procedures (KUHAP) that all decisions must be made public.

Because there are no courtrooms in the Supreme Court building, justices usually present their decision in one of the justices' rooms. To fulfill the KUHAP requirement, they leave the door to the room open.

Anyone who wanders onto the hearing can stop and listen in. However, because the Supreme Court does not publish a schedule of its cases, it is impossible to follow a specific case.

Legal observers have asked the Supreme Court to hold open hearings of Akbar's case. The court has yet to issue an official response to the requests.

Justice Paulus refused to say whether the hearing would be open or not, saying he had to discuss the matter with other panel members.

However, several court officials rejected the idea, saying supporters and opponents of Akbar could show up and cause chaos.

"It's okay if journalists come, but not regular people," an official said.

A number of groups that either support or oppose Akbar have held almost weekly demonstrations in front of the Supreme Court building since Akbar filed his appeal last year.

Justice Abdul Rahman said he would not trust anyone to deliver his written legal opinion on Akbar's appeal to Paulus.

"I will hand it over myself. It's too risky," he said.

And to avoid any possible information leaks of the verdict, Paulus has said that he will type the verdict himself, Abdul Rahman said.

On-going speculation over the long-awaited decision in Akbar's graft case is due to his position as the chairman of the Golkar Party and his status as a potential presidential nominee.

His political career depends on the decision. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Akbar, he will likely become the lone presidential nominee from Golkar.

Because the Supreme Court's decision is final, if the court rejects the appeal Akbar's sentence must be immediately executed, effectively putting an end to his political career.

A lower court found Akbar guilty of embezzling Rp 40 billion from the State Logistics Agency, sentencing him to three years in jail.