Supreme Court sets up team to clarify Tommy's case
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.