Verdict in judicial bribe trial postponed
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
It is widely rumored that many judges take bribes, but very few such cases are brought to court.
No wonder, the bribery trial of a Jakarta High Court judge, Fauzatulo Zendrato, has attracted the media's attention.
On Thursday, the Central Jakarta District Court was scheduled to announce the verdict, but much to the observers' disappointment, the session was postponed until April 22 because the defendant was reportedly sick.
With two of the three required judges absent, presiding judge Bambang Sriwulan quickly opened and adjourned the hearing.
He earlier refused to open the hearing after noticing a television crew in the courtroom.
"I will not open the hearing if you take my picture, the whole country would see me," he said.
He said he worried the Supreme Court could reprimand him if they knew he opened the hearing alone without the presence of the two other judges.
Finally, Bambang opened the hearing after the camera crew promised not to show him on tape.
Fauzatulo's lawyer, Sahala Siahaan, told the court that the defendant was sick. He handed over a letter dated April 10 from a doctor at PGI Cikini hospital, explaining that Fauzatulo needed two days of bed rest. But it did not mention his illness.
Outside the courtroom, Bambang admitted that the court had not reached a verdict since one of the judges, Marni Emmy Mustafa, was transferred to the North Jakarta District Court on Wednesday.
Normally, a judge obtains a promotion or transfer notification from the Supreme Court about three to four months prior to the transfer.
Bambang became angry when asked if the judges were deliberately delaying the trial process. The trial had previously been delayed for about two months before Wednesday's aborted session.
"I took 54 days off for the haj pilgrimage... It's my right to take the pilgrimage!" he angrily replied.
In January, Prosecutor Agus Sutoto asked the court to sentence Fauzatulo to four years in jail for allegedly abusing his authority when he headed the appeals division of the Supreme Court two years ago, by receiving Rp 550 million in bribes.
A state-owned private company PT Surabaya Industrial Estate Rungkut (PT SIER), which was in court over a land dispute, had bribed the defendant to rule in their favor, according to Agus.
The company won their case only after bribing Fauzatulo, who apparently delivered the money to other Supreme Court Justices involved in the case, including R.L. Tobing, Soedarno, Marnis Kahar, M. Yahya Harahap and R.Sunu Wahadi.
Marnis and Harahap were defendants in a separate bribery case involving Rp 190 million. However, they were acquitted of all charges by their fellow judges.