Verdict in judicial bribe trial postponed
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.