Dozens of MA Judges and Officials Serve as Case Brokers: ICW
21 February 2016 18:34 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Aradila Caesar said that the arrest of Andri Tristianto Sutrisna, head of civil lawsuits at the Supreme Court (MA) for allegedly being involved in a graft case, had added the long list of judges and MA officials serving as case brokers.
“Based on our data, there are at least 30 judges and 6 MA officials serving as case brokers,” Arad said in a discussion held at the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) on Sunday, February 21, 2016.
Earlier, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested Andri when receiving bribe from Ichsan Suadi, a suspect of a corruption case surrounding the port project in East Lombok. KPK investigators seized money that amounted to Rp 400 million (US$29,500) in return of delaying Ichsan verdict.
Before Andri, Arad added, an MA official exposed as a case broker was Pono Waluyo. With three of his colleagues, Pono was arrested for receiving Rp 1 billion (US$73,500) in return to deal with a corruption case surrounding the reforestation fund entangling Probosutedjo back in 2006.
In addition, Supreme Court’s judge Ahmad Yamani was arrested in 2012 for altering verdict for ecstasy factory owner Hengky Gunawan from death penalty to 12 years in prison.
Arad revealed that most case brokers asked for bribes or extort their clients to fix cases. Some judges were even prepared as case brokers since the selection stage.
“It’s like a trade. A judge can get help to be elected as long as he is willing to fix certain cases,” Arad said.
Arad admitted that eradicating such case brokers would not be easy since their operation had run for a long time.
“We need to expose the system. Arresting them wouldn’t work because they can be replaced,” Arad suggested.
ISTMAN MP