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Corruption so rampant at MA that clerk can hold sway
Jakarta Post - August 26, 2016
His modus operandi was simple: He asked for cash payments from convicts and had copies of their verdicts withheld so that they did not go to jail immediately, if at all.
In February this year, Andri asked for Rp 400 million from Ichsan Suadi, a graft convict from Mataram who was sentenced to five years in prison by the court in 2015. In return, Andri planned to delay the delivery of the cassation verdict to the Mataram District Court.
Earlier this year, Andri also accepted Rp 500 million from a lawyer in Pekanbaru, Riau, identified as Asep Ruhiat, as a fee for his pledge to "guard" some of the cases he handled at the Supreme Court.
Andri's luck ran out when Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators arrested him in February this year. He was apprehended after a conversation with another court official, Kosidah, a witness in his bribery case whose phone was bugged by KPK investigators.
Soon after the arrest, Andri and Kosidah were dismissed and the KPK took them to the Jakarta Corruption Court for a trial in June. On Thursday, the court sentenced Andri to nine years in prison, less than the 13 years demanded by KPK prosecutors, for accepting bribes from Ichsan and Asep.
In the course of the two-month trial, it was also revealed that Andri was the right-hand man of Supreme Court secretary Nurhadi, who recently resigned from his position amid a graft investigation launched by the KPK.
The trial also shed light on corruption that allowed people like Andri and Kosidah to influence the selection of justices to handle cases.
In an online conversation with Kosidah that was recorded by KPK investigators, he told her to avoid selecting justice Artidjo Alkostar, who is known for his penchant for increasing the sentences of graft convicts, and recommended other justices such as Timur Manurung or Syarifuddin.
"The defendant was found guilty of corruption together with other parties in the case," presiding judge Jhon Halasan Butarbutar said.
Andri's connection to Nurhadi was further revealed during the trial after KPK prosecutors found that Nurhadi's in-law, identified as Taufik, asked Andri to keep an eye on an appeal filed by senior Golkar Party politicians who were competing for party leadership.
Taufik also ordered Andri to monitor cases filed by individuals from Semarang in Central Java, Kediri in East Java, Banjar Baru in South Kalimantan and another case filed by CIMB Bank.
Following Andri's arrest, the KPK vowed to step up its effort to prosecute corrupt officials at the court. Not long after the promise, the KPK in April arrested Central Jakarta District Court clerk Edy Nasution in a bribery case that later implicated Nurhadi.
Soon after, the KPK slapped a travel ban on Nurhadi following the discovery of Rp 1.7 billion in cash stashed at his official residence in South Jakarta, allegedly related to the handling of a plea filed by subsidiaries of the Lippo Group.
Instead of giving up his position following the raid, Nurhadi appointed himself chairman of a team tasked with starting reform efforts at the Supreme Court. The move was a response to antigraft activists' calls for his resignation and reform at the judicial institution.
The KPK has so far failed to name Nurhadi a suspect after the National Police declined to give access to four of their personnel, who were adjutants to Nurhadi and were key witnesses in the Lippo case.
The KPK issued multiple summons for the four officers but to no avail, as in May the National Police sent them to join Operation Tinombala to catch wanted terrorist Santoso in Palu, Central Sulawesi.
The KPK failed in its attempt to implicate Nurhadi after Edy's trial began last month. The KPK then launched a new preliminary investigation on Nurhadi in the Lippo case in July. Nurhadi tendered his resignation days after the fresh probe began.
Now, efforts to name Nurhadi a suspect will be more difficult because in a preliminary investigation, the KPK has no authority to bring in suspects by force.
KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha said the KPK would continue to probe the four police personnel in the preliminary investigation and urged the police to voluntarily hand them over.
"The problem with preliminary investigations is that the process is secret and it has a high level of difficulty because [witnesses] cannot be forced to give testimony. We are still trying to summon them and we hope that they will be cooperative," Priharsa told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar was noncommittal when asked if the police would help the KPK in its probe on the four personnel. "We will liaise again with the KPK to see what we can do to help with the additional investigation," Boy said.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/08/26/corruption-so-rampant-ma-clerk-can-hold-sway.html.
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