Two justices go on trial for 'receiving' bribes

JAKARTA (JP): Two Supreme Court justices went on trial at the Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday for allegedly receiving Rp 50 million in bribes each.

Defendants Supraptini Sutarto and Marnis Kahar were accused of receiving the money from a middleman named Endin Wahyudin in order to win a land dispute case in 1998.

The two defendants are being tried separately. Supraptini's case is handled by Surung Aritonang, while the other is handled by prosecutor Soejitno.

According to the prosecutors, Endin claims that he, along with his friend Mesri Pasaribu, met Supraptini and Marnis twice at their office in Central Jakarta, sometime between October 1998 and December 1998.

According to the indictments, the meeting was based on the suggestion of another justice, M. Yahya Harahap, as the latter was presiding a hearing over the case, while Supraptini and Marnis were member justices.

"At their first meeting, Endin and Mesri offered Marnis Rp 50 million as a bribe. The defendant, however, refused, saying that she had not talked to Yahya about the matter," Soejitno told the court session presided over by Judge Rusdi As'ad.

"Later on, the defendant accepted the money," Soejitno charged.

Supraptini's trial was presided over by judge Rusdi.

Yahya, who has retired from the Supreme Court, is being tried at the West Jakarta District Court over the same case. He was indicted on Tuesday for receiving Rp 96 million in bribes.

The case came to surface after Endin, who is a witness under the witness protection program run by the Attorney General's Office and the Joint Anticorruption Team (TGPTPK), reported the bribery case to the chairman of TGPTPK Adi Andojo Soetjipto -- who is also a former Supreme Court justice.

Endin claimed he gave the bribes on behalf of Aminah, who was involved in a land dispute over a 17,000-square-meter plot of land in Bandung against Soenanta Soemali, alias Lie Sun Nam.

The Supreme Court ruled against Soenanta Soemali in December 1998. But Soenanta filed an objection against the verdict at the Bandung District Court. The district court agreed and as a result, the Supreme Court's verdict on the disputed land could not be executed.

Soejitno and Surung charged Marnis and Supraptini with violating Article 28 of Anticorruption Law No. 3/1971 and Article 420 of the Criminal Code and Law No. 31/1999. If found guilty, they could be sentenced to between 20 years and life in prison.

Defense lawyers, O.C Kaligis and Jhon H. Waliry, said that the court must dismiss the cases as "the charges had no legal basis."

"The prosecutors have charged our clients for violating, among others, Law No. 31/1999, while the alleged corruption case occurred before the law became effective in November 1999.

"As the law doesn't recognize a retroactive principle, we ask the court to dismiss the case," Kaligis told the court.

Kaligis further said that as Endin was currently facing trial at the Central Jakarta District Court for slander and defamation of the justices, the court must postpone the trial over the justices, pending the court's verdict on Endin's trial.

The trials were adjourned until Aug. 2 to hear the response of prosecutors. (tso)