JAKARTA: The recent arrest by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) of four judges for alleged bribery pertaining to the acquittal of companies charged with corruption has prompted a call for stronger oversight of judicial institutions.
On April 14 and 15, AGO investigators arrested four judges previously assigned to the Central Jakarta District Court, namely Muhammad Arif Nuryanta, Agam Syarif Baharuddin, Ali Muhtarom and Djuyamto, for allegedly accepting bribes to acquit three palm oil companies in a crude palm oil (CPO) export corruption case.
Arif, who was serving as the court’s deputy head when the trial started in early 2024, allegedly accepted Rp 60 billion (US$3.6 million) in bribes from lawyers representing Wilmar Group, Permata Hijau Group and Musim Mas Group in exchange for arranging a favourable ruling in the case.
Arif allegedly shared the money with Agam, Ali and Djuyamto, the three judges handling the case.
Also arrested in the case was former Central Jakarta District Court clerk Wahyu Gunawan, who allegedly communicated with the lawyers about the bribe.
The bribery investigation was a development of an earlier graft investigation into the alleged bribery of three judges at the Surabaya District Court in East Java.
The judges were arrested in October last year for allegedly accepting money to acquit Ronald Tannur, the son of a former House of Representatives member from the National Awakening Party (PKB) who stood trial for allegedly assaulting and killing his girlfriend in 2023.
During the investigation into the Surabaya court bribery, investigators found electronic evidence mentioning a corporate lawyer’s name in a separate bribery case to secure a favourable ruling in the CPO graft case, said AGO spokesperson Harli Siregar.
The arrest of the four judges in the CPO bribery case adds to the long list of corruption cases involving judicial officials across the country.
According to data from antigraft group Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), at least 29 judges were named graft suspects for allegedly accepting bribes in exchange for granting favourable rulings for corruption defendants between 2011 and 2024. The total illicit money accepted by the suspects amounted to nearly Rp 108 billion.
One of the largest corruption cases involving court judges and officials was unveiled in 2022, when the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested several Supreme Court justices in a bribery case pertaining to the handling of a civil case against savings and loans cooperative Intidana.
One of the justices, Sudradjad Dimyati, was sentenced to eight years in prison after the corruption court found him guilty in the case.
The Supreme Court later reduced his sentence to seven years.
In the same year, the government renewed efforts at judicial reform that were initially introduced in the early 2000s. One part of the post-New Order reforms was the establishment of the Judicial Commission as an external oversight body to maintain judicial integrity.
But the commission currently has limited authority to appoint Supreme Court justices or investigate ethical breaches.
The Supreme Court has also resisted external supervision from the Judicial Commission, ignoring many of the commission’s recommendations to sanction justices found to have violated the rules.
A call to strengthen the Judicial Commission resurfaced recently, with its member Binziad Kadafi urging the government to reinforce the commission’s authority and calling on the Supreme Court chief justice to foster ethical accountability among judges.
“Judges should monitor one another, ensure ethical conduct and not hesitate to become whistleblowers if they witness legal or ethical violations, especially corruption,” he said.
In an effort to curb corruption among judges, former president Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo almost doubled judges’ basic salaries before leaving office. The policy was issued in response to a mass protest by members of the judiciary.
President Prabowo Subianto followed suit, saying in an interview with seven senior journalists at his private residence in Hambalang, Bogor regency, West Java, on April 6 that he would raise judges’ salaries to make them “unbribable”.
But criminal law professor Harkristuti Harkrisnowo at the University of Indonesia says both policies aimed at improving judges’ welfare failed to discourage corruption among judges, which she blamed on a permissive culture that turned a blind eye to colleagues accepting bribes.
“Judicial reform has failed to prevent corruption, mainly because there’s no exemplary behaviour from the leaders of courts, from the district court to the Supreme Court, of refusing bribes,” Harkristuti said.
She urged the Supreme Court leadership to have the courage to clean up judicial institutions and improve internal oversight by appointing individuals of integrity.
Legal expert Aan Eko Widiarto from Brawijaya University concurred, calling on the Supreme Court to instil stronger ethical standards at the recruitment stage.
He added that the court should examine judges’ rulings to ensure objectivity and consistency. In response to the arrests in relation to the CPO graft case, the Supreme Court said on April 14 that it would fire the judges if they were found guilty.
The court said it would also introduce an automated system to appoint judges to a case, with its internal oversight body having formed a special task force to review judges’ performances and compliance with the code of ethics. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
