Supreme Court muddies waters in Akbar case

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.