Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – A plan may be in place to weaken the Corruption Court (KPK) by replacing its six career judges by judges from the Supreme Court, antigraft groups said Sunday.
Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) and the Center for Anti-Corruption Studies (PukaT) said the career judges to replace the six have questionable records, and that their assignments were legally flawed.
The Supreme Court last month "promoted" six Corruption Court judges – Gusrizal to head the Bogor District Court, Kresna Menon to lead the Bandung District Court, Sutiono to head the Sumedang District Court, and Moefri to head the Sampit District as well Teguh Haryanto and Martini Mardja as deputy heads of the Tulungagung District Court and the Kayu Agung District Courts, respectively. The six were among nine judges replaced from the graft court.
The nine new judges are Tjokorda Rai Suamba, Reno Listowo, FX JIwo Santoso, Herdi Agusten, Syarifuddin Umar, Jupriyadi, Subachran, Nani Indrawati and Panusunan Harahap.
"Six of nine new judges – Panusunan Harahap, Reno Listowo, Syarifuddin Umar, Subachran, Jupriyadi and Jiwo Santoso – had acquitted corruption defendants and we never know whether they (the defendants) really deserved acquittals, or it was because the judges failed to understand these corruption cases which probably were related to poor indictments by prosecutors, or this was related to the judicial mafia," ICW legal researcher Febri Diansyah told a news conference.
ICW legal division coordinator Emerson Yuntho questioned whether the judges were "promoted" or removed from the graft court. "The replacements appeared to be hastily made and the procedures violated the (2002) law on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK)," Emerson said.
He said the Supreme Court must publicly announce names for assignment as Corruption Court judges. "To date we never see or hear any such announcements in print or electronic media," he said, or such appointments are unconstitutional.
The ICW and PukaT demanded that the Supreme Court withdraw its March 18 decision to appoint the new judges for the graft court, or they would report it to the Judicial Commission for such violations. "There is something fishy here and we suspect this is an attempt to weaken the Corruption Court," Emerson said.
Currently the Corruption Court has eight career judges and nine ad hoc (non-career) judges. The Corruption Court has won praise from antigraft groups, activists and the general public. Since 2003, the Corruption Court has never acquitted any suspect presented by KPK prosecutors.
Another attempt to weaken or eliminate the graft court was also apparent when the House of Representatives delayed the deliberation of a new bill on the corruption court. Such a bill must be passed into law by December this year, or the court would be dissolved, according to a Constitutional Court ruling.