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MA slammed for foiling Sarpin ruling case review
Jakarta Post - March 11, 2015
Supreme Court spokesman Suhadi said Monday that Supreme Court Chief Justice Hatta Ali told KPK commissioners such a request lacked a legal basis and would likely be ignored. The message was apparently delivered in a closed-door meeting held Friday,
KY commissioner Taufiqurrohman Sahuri said that by making such a statement Hatta went too far, damaging due process in a case that has redefined law enforcement in the country, many say for the worse.
"I am not sure if such a statement has been made, but if it has happened, then it is a ruling without a hearing. A judge cannot make such a statement," Taufiqurrohman told reporters at KPK headquarters on Tuesday.
KPK leaders withdrew their case-review petition following Hatta's statement. They are currently exploring other legal means of challenging the pretrial hearing decision that ordered the antigraft body to cease its investigation into former National Police chief candidate Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan for corruption.
In an unprecedented move, the South Jakarta District Court approved Budi's pretrial proposal to challenge his graft-suspect status. Judge Sarpin Rizaldi ordered the KPK to lift the graft-suspect status, which consequently forced the KPK to transfer the investigation to the graft-ridden Attorney General's Office (AGO), which intends to hand the case over to the National Police.
Sarpin made the ruling in spite of the fact that the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP) grants no authority for a judge to rule on the legality of a suspect's status.
Legal experts have said the ruling is a threat to the country's judicial system and that the court was obliged to take firm and decisive action to fix the ruling.
Taufiqurrohman encouraged the KPK to file its case-review proposal and urged the court to accept it, saying a Supreme Court justice should not intervene in the process.
"The proposal must be accepted. Then, the Supreme Court can hold a trial hearing to determine whether the petition will be rejected or accepted," Taufiqurrohman added.
During the meeting with Hatta and other Supreme Court justices, KPK leaders tried to convince the court to approve its future case-review proposal. However, the court apparently viewed Sarpin's ruling as in line with existing law.
Contacted separately, Suhadi denied he had made a statement that the court would reject a case-review petition on the Budi pretrial ruling, saying there had been no discussion of such a plan.
"As for the case-review plan, I am not in any capacity to claim that it will be either accepted or rejected, but the KUHAP says those who can file them must be convicts or their [convicts'] heirs," Suhadi said.
Meanwhile, in addition to the KY's investigation into the alleged breach of ethics in Sarpin's ruling, Taufiqurrohman said the KY was currently investigating the South Jakarta District Court's decision to appoint Sarpin as the sole judge for the pretrial hearing.
Originally assigned judge Iman Gultom, Budi and lawyers withdrew their case, citing the need for a revision. By the time the petition had been reregistered, the court had replaced Iman with Sarpin as presiding judge.
"We will dig deeper into the decision to change the judge [after the first registration]," Taufiqurrohman said, adding that the KY had summoned South Jakarta District chairman Haswandi to question him about the replacement.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/03/11/ma-slammed-foiling-sarpin-ruling-case-review.html.
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