Team to probe bribe problem in judicial system

Team to probe bribe problem in judicial system

JAKARTA (JP): The Supreme Court and the Ministry of Justice
will form a special team to investigate allegations that many
judges have tainted the judiciary system by accepting bribes.

Chief Justice Soerjono said yesterday the team will make an
inquiry into allegations made by former deputy chief justice
Zaenal Asikin Kusumah-Atmadja, who said that many judges took
bribes.

If necessary, Asikin will be invited to provide data that
could support his statement, Soerjono added.

Asikin was quoted by Kompas daily as saying that up to 50
percent of judges in the country took bribes and that collusion
in the court system was controlled by what he called a "court
mafia".

"How could he give that figure? On what basis did he say
that?" asked Soerjono, who was accompanied by Ali Boediarto, the
secretary-general of the Indonesian Judges' Association (Ikahi).

Asikin earlier made headlines with his daring decision in
favor of villagers who had to give up their land for the
construction of the Kedungombo dam in Central Java. The Supreme
Court then ordered the governor to pay Rp 50,000 (US$23) per
square meter of property in addition to "immaterial compensation"
amounting to Rp 2 billion to each plaintiff.

The Supreme Court later reviewed the case upon the request of
the governor, after which then chief justice, Purwoto S.
Gandasubrata, annulled the decision.

Soerjono rejected the term "court mafia", saying that mafia
referred to organized crime.

Purwoto, who retired last month, had the same objection to the
term. "It is collusion between irresponsible individuals," he
insisted.

He admitted that some judges may have violated laws, but the
number was much lower than what Asikin suggested.

Independent

Baharuddin Lopa, Secretary-General of the National Commission
of Human Rights, said the team in charge of inquiring into the
bribery allegations must be independent. He also suggested that
the team members must be "clean".

Soerjono, Purwoto and Lopa made the comments during a break in
a seminar on law held by the Forum Keadilan biweekly magazine and
Ikahi.

The issue of bribery in court was discussed in the first
session of the seminar, which featured Lopa, Loebby Loqman, a
professor in law from the University of Indonesia, and Yahya
Harahap, a Supreme Court justice.

Lopa pointed out that bribery in court had become more and
more organized.

Lopa said that in the past it was known that people offered
bribe money at the judges' house. Today, the colluding parties do
not necessarily have to meet as they can use the services of
middlemen. The amount of the bribe is also set in a more direct
manner, he added.

"In short, it has become a business," he said.

He said even though the court did not always favor the rich,
there is a tendency for poor people to lose their legal battles.
As a result, people have become skeptical about law enforcement
and reluctant to deal with law enforcers, according to Lopa, who
once worked as a provincial prosecutor's office chief.

He also criticized lawyers for contributing to the negative
image of the judiciary by offering bribes to law enforcers.

Judges should improve their moral integrity, as well as their
professionalism, in order to clear away their tainted image, he
said.

Lopa criticized judges who based their verdicts solely on what
he called "formal truth" without considering the social aspects.

"A good decision considers the social milieu," he said.

He observed that in land cases a lot of poor people, who had
tilled the land in dispute for years, lost the legal battle
because they failed to show the court the official documents that
they never had.

On the other hand, rich people can easily obtain documents
with money and then claim that they had the right to the land,
Lopa charged.

"From social point of view, it is the farmers who have the
right to the land, but from the judicial point of view the rights
go to the conglomerates," he said. (sim)