Camelia Pasandaran & Nivell Rayda – The Constitutional Court on Monday announced it had set up an ethics tribunal for two justices alleged to have taken bribes for favorable rulings in an electoral dispute and a judicial review.
Chief Justice Mahfud M.D. said the tribunal had been formed at the request of the judges in question, Arsyad Sanusi and Akil Mochtar, and had bypassed the preliminary step of setting up an ethics panel to determine if a tribunal was necessary. "We made this legal breakthrough upon the request of Arsyad and Akil, who demanded that they be investigated by a tribunal," Mahfud said.
Akil is alleged to have received Rp 1 billion ($111,000) from J.R. Saragih, the head of Simalungun district in North Sumatra, to uphold his victory in an election there last year. The court went on to rule in Saragih's favor.
However, Akil denies ever receiving money and has reported Saragih and Refly Harun, who was Saragih's lawyer at the time and who raised the allegation, to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
Arsyad's daughter and brother-in-law are alleged to have taken bribes from Dirwan Mahmud, a candidate in the 2008 election for district head of South Bengkulu, in connection with a judicial review of the regional governance law.
The court ruled against Dirwan in that case, with Arsyad the only justice on the panel of seven to rule in favor of the plaintiff. Arsyad has denied knowing anything about his daughter's involvement in the case.
Mahfud, in defense of his fellow justices, said the supervision at the court was very strict. "No bribe or family connection can influence the judges' decisions," he said.
The formation of the tribunal has been welcomed by antigraft watchdogs, although concerns have been raised about how the members of the tribunal were selected. Those appointed to serve on the tribunal are Justices Harjono and Achmad Sodiki, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan, former Constitutional Court Justice Abdul Mukthie Fajar and Esmi Warassih Pujirahayu, a legal expert from Jakarta's Diponegoro University.
Febri Diansyah, coordinator of legal and court monitoring at Indonesia Corruption Watch, said there were concerns that the public was not involved in the process of selecting tribunal members.
"The law says the composition of the ethics tribunal should take into consideration input from the public," he said. "But we at the ICW never heard of the Constitutional Court introducing any mechanism through which the public could offer suggestions on selecting tribunal members.
"The ICW proposes that the court review the appointment of the three non-Constitutional Court members as it's still not too late to remedy the situation."
However, Mahfud said there could be no doubt about the credibility of everyone appointed to the tribunal. He also brushed off criticism of the tribunal holding hearings behind closed doors.
"The law states that such a tribunal should not be open to the public," he said. "While the results will be made public, the process won't. Not even I will get to sit in on it."