Supreme Court sets up team to clarify Tommy's case

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Supreme Court has finally set up a team to clarify a decision taken by the panel of justices that controversially overturned a verdict on fugitive Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, Chief Justice Bagir Manan said.

The clarification team will be led by Bagir himself with the assistance of junior chief justice for supervision Marianna Sutadi and three legal experts.

"We are still waiting for responses from the three legal experts on whether they are willing to join the team," he said on Wednesday on the sidelines of a discussion on the reform of the last bastion of the country's justice.

Both Bagir and Marianna, who was also a speaker in the discussion, refused to give any hints about the names of the three legal experts.

Bagir said that the team itself would decide whether to examine the essence of the decision on the judicial review advanced by Tommy's lawyers or to investigate whether bribery had been involved in the process.

Last year, the Supreme Court sentenced Tommy to 18 months in jail on corruption charges related to a swap deal scam involving his retail company PT Goro Batara Sakti and the National Logistics Agency (Bulog) in 1995.

Early this month another panel of justices exonerated Tommy, who had escaped from custody, on the grounds that a commissioner of a company could not be held responsible if that company was involved in a crime.

The decision sparked debate on the country's legal mechanisms and the integrity of the justices because Tommy had earlier admitted guilt and asked for a presidential pardon, which had been rejected by then-president Abdurrahman Wahid.

A coalition of non-governmental organizations has formed an examination team to analyze the decision and the legal considerations used in the decision.

On Wednesday, Bagir reiterated his determination to reform the Supreme Court by giving more authority to local courts to execute verdicts without any intervention from the highest court -- a common practice in the past.

Bagir also said that the Supreme Court was now in the process of drafting internal regulations on the justices' code of conduct which will be integrated with the profession's code of ethics.