KPK Leaders' Judicial Review Denied

The Supreme Court today rejected the Judicial Review for the Bribery Case of two Deputy Chairmen of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Bibid Riyanto and Chandra Hamzah.

Please find below a news report that I have quoted from The Jakarta Post.

With this rejection, trial of Bibit and Chandra, which was stopped by the Attorney General Office but then challenged by the Defendant, should now be resumed.

KPK leaders face detention as court rejects case review motion      

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 10/08/2010 4:37 PM | Headlines

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputies Bibit Rianto and Chandra Hamzah are facing imminent detention after the Supreme Court has turned down Friday their motion for a review of their bribery case.

The two KPK leaders had previously defied the Jakarta High Court’s ruling which declared the state prosecutors’ decision to suspend their bribery case illegal. The high court’s verdict should have been enough to send Bibit and Chandra to jail pending their trial, but they challenged the ruling by demanding a case review, which many consider a bad precedent for law enforcement in the country.

Bibit and Chandra were quick to consult their lawyer to find legal measures to keep them from prison for the second time.

“I am leaving for the KPK office. Later I will disclose legal measures that we will take,” Taufik Basari, one of the KPK leaders’ lawyers, said as quoted by kompas.com.

The Attorney General’s Office dropped bribery and abuse of power charges leveled on the two KPK leaders for sociological reasons. Bribery suspect Anggodo Widjojo then contested the policy in court, insisting that Bibit and Chandra received bribes from him.

Anggodo was sentenced to four years in jail after the court found him guilty of obstructing a KPK investigation and attempting to bribe KPK officials.

Tape recordings of conversation between Anggodo and several senior police officer and prosecutors played in a Constitutional Court hearing revealed that the bribery and abuse of power charges leveled on Bibit and Chandra were orchestrated.

Bibit and Chandra were arrested under the false charges, but were released a few days later following mounting public pressures.

Anggodo’s lawyer, Bonaran Situmeang, said Friday both Bibit and Chandra had no more reason to avoid detention as the Supreme Court had stated that their trial for alleged bribery and abuse of power should go ahead.

“Never treat them as prophets so that they can evade prison. The state prosecutors should detain them for the sake of equality before the law,” he said.

KPK oh KPK

On 3 June, the Jakarta High Court ruled that two Vice Chiefs of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Bibid Samad and Chandra Hamzah, must be Prosecuted for alleged Extortion and Abuse of Power.

This ruling confirmed the verdict of South Jakarta District Court which accepted the Pre-Trial request filed by Anggodo who rejected the District Attorney's cessation of Prosecution against both men, therefore the trial should be resumed.

According to the Criminal Procedural Law the above High Court's ruling is final for Pre-trial cases, therefore the District Attorney should resume its Prosecution at the District Court.

Many legal experts suggested the Attorney General Office to close down the said case on the grounds of public interest. But yesterday, Attorney General Hendarman Supanji announced that his office plan to initiate an extraordinary procedure for this case, i.e. request a Judicial Review with the Supreme Court.

Please find below a news report that I quoted from The Jakarta Globe.

AGO Takes Its KPK Battle to Supreme Court

The Attorney General’s Office on Thursday announced that it would mount an extraordinary challenge to a High Court ruling that overturned its decision last year not to prosecute a controversial case against two antigraft deputies.

It plans to file a request for a judicial case review directly with the Supreme Court.

“The AGO will undertake an extraordinary legal effort, or a case review, regarding the ruling of the High Court in the pretrial case with the reasoning that the considerations of the judges in that ruling showed a real mistake,” Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said.

Speaking at President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s office after consulting with him on the case, Hendarman said his office would not directly appeal the decision, as the law does not allow appeals of pretrial rulings.

Two Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputies, Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto, were declared suspects in September for allegedly abusing their powers and committing extortion related to a case involving graft fugitive Anggoro Widjojo.

However, the AGO was forced to halt the case in December after the Constitutional Court played shocking wiretapped phone conversations indicating a plot to bring down the two and after Yudhoyono urged the termination of the case amid a public uproar.

The AGO was criticized afterward for not halting prosecution by invoking the public interest — known by the Dutch term “deponering.”

But Hendarman said on Thursday that this had also been out of the question as it would have been time-consuming, requiring the approval of all three branches of the government — the executive, judicial and legislative.

He pointed out that the legislature had requested that the case be processed in line with the Code of Criminal Procedures, which does not recognize the dropping of a case, while the High Court, part of the judicial branch, had ordered the trial to proceed.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Ama­ri, the deputy attorney general for special crimes, confirmed that the current status of Chandra and Bibit was still as suspects, based on the High Court ruling, which upheld a district court decision, that insisted the prosecution should proceed.

“They are suspects now,” Amari said. “But we see no reason we should detain them.”

The law requires a suspect to be detained if prosecutors have reason to worry that he or she will flee justice, repeat the offense or destroy evidence, “but we believe Chandra and Bibit will not do that,” Amari told a news conference at the AGO.

“We have only two remaining options: go to court [to challenge the decision] or request a case review,” he said. “We decided to ask for a case review because we believe we were right when dropping the case.”

A case review requires new evidence or strong argumentation to be presented, and Amari said the two courts had made “a blatant mistake” that the AGO may challenge.

“In their verdicts, the courts ruled that once prosecutors declared a criminal case as complete, it must be brought to the court for trial, whereas Article 139 of the Code of Criminal Procedures allows us to examine further and assess whether or not it’s worth trying by the court.

Other articles in the code allow us to terminate a case when we eventually find that it’s not worth trying,” Amari said.

Renowned legal expert Todung Mulya Lubis denounced Hendarman’s decision as ambiguous because a case review would be time-consuming, the very reason the chief prosecutor used against the deponering option.

“The best option remains deponering. It produces a solution once and for all,” Todung told the Jakarta Globe, adding that halting the prosecution would be “to rescue the Corruption Eradication Commission, not just Bibit and Chandra.”

Taufik Basari, the lawyer for Bibit and Chandra, said his clients’ concern was not having to face the court, but that if the case went to trial “then the judicial system legitimizes a fabricated case and rules in favor of a man like Anggodo.”

Taufik also said naming his clients as suspects would lead to their suspension from the KPK, leaving only two active deputy commissioners.

Cancellation of Prosecution

On 19 April 2010, the District Court of South Jakarta passed a pre-trial verdict stating that the cancellation of prosecution against two Deputy Chairmen of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Bibit and Chandra, by the Attorney General Office (AGO) has been illegal therefore the trial should be revived.

This Court's verdict received contradictory reactions from the public. Some people agreed saying this will determine the legal status of Bibit and Chandra, if they are right than their position would be stronger. Some others disagree saying that the AGO canceled the prosecution based on the instruction of President SBY to settle the case out of court. While the AGO said that they will file and appeal with the Jakarta High Court.

In this regards, I would like to share with you a relevant article in The Jakarta Post (below) written by a senior lawyer who is a member of several prominent legal committees namely Frans Hendra Winarta.

Ignorance, a disaster for law enforcement

Frans H. Winarta, Jakarta | Fri, 04/30/2010 8:35 AM | Opinion

The pretrial verdict of the South Jakarta District Court on Bibit S. Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is not unpredictable.

The cancellation of the prosecution of Bibit and Chandra, which was already declared complete by the National Police chief and the Attorney General, ignored the due process of law.

Some say the cancellation of the prosecution of Bibit and Chandra is a correct legal sociological decision because it is in line with the people’s wishes and in accordance with their sense of justice.

However, it should be noted that an intervention from the power holders that the people’s wishes be heard will further weaken law enforcement in Indonesia.

In law enforcement, justice is a must. But in a case like the Bibit-Chandra one, which was about to be submitted to the court for hearing and was then canceled because of a presidential order, as well as pressure from the public that it be halted, the due process of law must also be observed.

The public’s massive support for Bibit and Chandra through Facebook has turned into disappointment, as the KPK has not become stronger and efficient, but indecisive when confronted with big corruption cases.

In handling the Bank Century scandal, for example, the KPK look as if they do not know how to handle it.

Worse is the KPK seems at a loss when handling the alleged tax fraud involving PT Ramayana Lestari Sentosa boss Paulus Tumewu.

In fact, I have reminded everyone of the danger of ignoring the due process of law and its impacts on law enforcement, especially anti-corruption.

If only Bibit and Chandra had been questioned under the supervision of the Judicial Commission, the National Ombudsman Commission, the National Human Rights Commission, the National Law Commission and the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center, within two to three months, the case would have become final and Bibit and Chandra may have been released from their legal problems and could have turned all their attention to leading the KPK in the fight against corruption.

However, unfortunately the eight-member presidential supervisory team did not anticipate the impact of their recommendation on the fate of law enforcement.

The brief victory brought euphoria to the public who simplified Bibit and Chandra as the personification of the KPK, whereas in fact Bibit and Chandra are not the same as the KPK.

Let’s hope that the prosecutor’s office will file an appeal against the court’s pretrial verdict and subsequently the Jakarta High Court will annul the lower court’s verdict, so that both Bibit and Chandra can continue their work at the KPK. The prosecution against Bibit and Chandra may not necessarily weaken the KPK. It is the attitude of KPK leaders, who are indecisive and easily swayed, which will weaken the KPK itself. Let’s hope that all of these matters can be resolved quickly because a weak KPK will only foil the corruption eradication agenda of the SBY administration itself.

Indeed, we are currently facing a dilemma of law enforcement that is mixed with political intervention. This political intervention turns out to be a disaster for law enforcement in Indonesia.

If the Jakarta High Court upholds the pretrial verdict of the South Jakarta District Court, Bibit and Chandra had better face the court proceedings to clear their names from all the allegations. If they are acquitted of all the charges, it will be proof that efforts to weaken the KPK are real and do exist. Otherwise, all the accusations of attempts to weaken the KPK are groundless.

The writer is chairman of the Indonesian Advocates Association (Peradin). The opinions expressed are personal.

Anggodo vs. KPK Leaders

The faith of those who are directly or indirectly involved in corruption can be better than those who are fighting corruption.

That's what I thought when I read on The Jakarta Globe that the District Court of South Jakarta has accepted the petition filed by Corruption Suspect Anggodo Widjaya for cancellation of the Attorney General Office's decision to discharge Vice Chairmen of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) i.e. Chandra Hamzah and Bibid S. Waluyo from prosecution.

With this Court's decision, the Attorney General Office will have to revive its Prosecution against both KPK leaders.

April 19, 2010

Jakarta Globe

Anggodo Widjojo in this file photo outside the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). The controversial businessman and graft suspect is back, at that is bad news for KPK deputy chairmen Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah. (Antara Photo)

Anggodo Revives Prosecution of KPK Deputies 

Corruption suspect Anggodo Widjojo has been able to revive the controversial and allegedly bogus criminal case against respected Corruption Eradication Commission deputy chairmen Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah.

The South Jakarta District Court on Monday accepted a motion filed by Anggodo — the brother of fugitive businessman Anggoro — against the decision of the Attorney General’s Office to abandon its prosecution of Bibit and Chandra.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had publically urged that the hugely unpopular prosecutions be abandoned in the wake of public outrage and the findings of a presidential task force that concluded the charges were part of an alleged conspiracy involving elements of the AGO, National Police and Anggodo himself to bring down the commission, also known as the KPK.

Bibit and Chandra were initially charged with abuse of power and allowing Anggoro to flee to Singapore but it was widely acknowledged that little evidence existed.

Prosecutors, on the back foot last year, said at the time that prosecuting the deputies would be more “harmful than beneficial to bring the bribery case to the court.”

Anggodo challenged the AGO’s argument, saying that public pressure had been applied in reaching the decision, which was not in accordance with the Criminal Procedures Code and therefore violated the law.

The decision to revive the prosecution was made by the sole Judge Nugroho Setyadi.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi was not immediately available for comment.