Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – The revelations of institutionalized bribery unearthed in the saga of rogue tax official Gayus Tambunan paint a bleak picture of the state of the country's judiciary, antigraft watchdogs say.

The most recent allegation was made by Gayus on Wednesday at the bribery trial of the judge who acquitted him in March. He claimed he gave Judge Muhtadi Asnun $40,000 in cash on the eve of the verdict.

"This incident alone shows that Gayus's trial in March was completely bungled," Andri Gunawan, secretary general of the nongovernmental Indonesian Judicial Watch Society (Mappi), said on Thursday.

"It flouted the rules prohibiting a judge from meeting with a defendant in a personal capacity." Andri said if the judge had solicited the bribe, "then our justice system is truly in danger."

He said it was common for judges to meet defense lawyers "for private negotiations". "Nowadays, lawyers prefer to invite judges out to lunch someplace away from the courthouse so they can talk without fear of being spotted by snooping journalists or watchdogs," Andri said. "We've received plenty of reports of such meetings."

Gayus was tried at the Tangerang District Court after being found with Rp 28 billion ($3.1 million) in his bank accounts. He has since confessed to bribing the judge, prosecutors and police investigators in his efforts to get the more serious charge of money-laundering dropped.

Investigators Arafat Enanie and Sri Sumartini are also on trial for taking bribes. Arafat is accused of extorting witnesses in the Gayus case for a Harley-Davidson motorcycle by threatening to name them suspects along with Gayus. The officer is said to have even picked the model himself in the showroom.

At least two police generals were implicated when it was revealed that they had provided rooms for Gayus's lawyers and investigators to negotiate a split of Gayus's money, but a so-called "independent team" set up by the National Police later absolved them of any wrongdoing.

No prosecutors have been named suspects, despite testimony from witnesses, including Gayus, of their involvement. The Attorney General's Office has handed them token demotions for "unprofessional conduct."

Neta Pane, chairman of the nongovernmental Police Watch, said the revival of the case against Gayus, sparked by whistle-blower and chief detective Susno Duadji, would prove no more successful because the "independent team" was handling it.

"The team is wholly staffed with police officers, so it'll be no surprise if they flub this one, too," he said. "The KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission] should have taken over this case from the get-go."

While six of nine suspects named in the case have now gone on trial, critics argue that the net needs to be spread wider to address the worrying allegations of tax fraud unveiled so far.

Gayus is believed to have amassed his wealth by taking bribes from corporate taxpayers seeking to cheat on their taxes. He has since testified that the companies include subsidiaries of the Bakrie conglomerate, controlled by the family of Golkar Party chairman and political heavyweight Aburizal Bakrie.

Police finally said they would question Bakrie executives over Gayus's claims, but did not say when.

Those same firms were the target of a tax investigation quashed immediately after the resignation in May of then Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, with whom Aburizal has had a long-running feud.