Taufik ready for bribe questioning

JAKARTA (JP): Supreme Court Deputy Chief Justice M. Taufik revealed on Monday that he was ready to face questioning before a fact finding team investigating allegations of bribery in the case against Djoko S. Tjandra.

"I am ready to be questioned by the team. Should the President give her approval to summon me before the Attorney General's Office, I will go," Taufik told The Jakarta Post and Berita Kota at his office.

"But if the team fails to find me guilty, I will file a legal suit against them," Taufik said.

Taufik, along with other justices Artidjo Alkostar, R. Sunu Wahadi, and the late Sjafiuddin Kartasasmita, was a member of a panel of justices examining an appeal filed by prosecutor Antasari Azhar against Djoko S. Tjandra, a suspect of the Bank Bali corruption case that resulted in some Rp 904 billion in losses to the state.

As earlier reported, the South Jakarta District Court freed Djoko, a director of the trading and investment firm PT Era Giat Prima (EGP), from all charges due to a legal technicality and the prosecutor's failure to back up his arguments with witness testimonies.

Antasari, who earlier demanded an 18 month-jail term for Djoko, then filed an appeal to the High Court over the verdict but again the court freed Djoko, followed by the Supreme Court verdict on June 28.

Allegations that Djoko bribed the Justices came to the surface after Artidjo reportedly had a man claiming to represent Djoko removed from his office after he tried to bribe Artidjo with some Rp 20 billion (US$22 million).

The Supreme Court also received a report from the National Ombudsman Commission which said that two justices -- Taufik and Sjafiuddin -- had allegedly violated an administrative procedure by appointing Sunu Wahadi, a junior chief justice, to preside over the case's examination process.

Soon after receiving the report, Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan decided to form a fact finding team comprising himself, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission II on Legal and Home Affairs, a noted lawyer, a justice, and junior chief justice of supervising Mariana Sutadi.

The team, however, has yet to commence the investigation.

"Such allegations are aimed at humiliating me. I am not concerned as I believe that the country is still upholding supremacy of the law," Taufik said. (tso)