[Kabar-indonesia] Probosutedjo's lawyer gets 4 years for attempted bribery of Chief Justice

[Joyo at aol.com]

The Jakarta Post 
Saturday, July 1, 2006

Lawyer gets 4 years for attempted bribery

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Corruption Court sentenced lawyer Harini Wijoso to four years in jail and 
fined her Rp 150 million (about US$17,000) Friday for attempted bribery of 
Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan.

It also found Supreme Court clerk Pono Waluyo guilty of collaborating with 
Harini in trying to secure a term reduction for her client, business tycoon 
Probosutedjo. Pono was sentenced to three years in jail and fined Rp 100 million.

Defaulting on the fines will lead to an additional three months on the jail 
terms.

The sentence for Harini was four years and Rp 100 million less than the 
demand of prosecutors, while Pono received 18 months and Rp 50 million less than 
was sought.

The five-member panel of judges ruled Harini was guilty of masterminding a 
conspiracy to reduce the four-year sentence of Probosutedjo, who was convicted 
by the Jakarta High Court of embezzling funds in a reforestation program.

Presiding judge Kresna Menon and judges Sutiyono, Slamet Subagyo, Sofyaldi 
and Ugo also found that Pono assisted Harini.

Probosutedjo acknowledged he reported Harini to the Corruption Eradication 
Commission after becoming tired of increased demands for money for a promised 
reprieve. He claimed Harini asked for Rp 5 billion to bribe Bagir.

Harini's lawyer Efendi Lod Simanjuntak termed the verdict unfair.

"We simply cannot accept the court's sentence. It seems that these judges 
only want to wash their hands of this to please the public and Bagir Manan, and 
to advance their careers."

He cited a crucial flaw in the prosecution's case in not bringing Bagir to 
testify.

"The bribe from Harini to Bagir never happened. There wasn't any evidence and 
clarification because Bagir was not at the trial," he told The Jakarta Post.

"The three new replacement judges haven't performed well as they only wanted 
to legalize the request of Kresna Menon."

The trials of Harini and Pono were disrupted by an unprecedented walkout by 
three of the panel over the demand to summon Bagir.

The two career judges, Kresna Menon and Sutiyono, said there was no need to 
call him, but ad-hoc judges Achmad Linoh, I Made Hendra Kusuma and Dudu Duswara 
disagreed and refused to hear the case.

Harini and Pono have 14 days to decide whether to appeal.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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