Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
Corruption case acquittals by primary courts across the country are like a slap in the face against the anti-corruption drive.
Judges apparently pardon graft suspects because practically all graft cases involving regional budgets, committed by members of the executive as well as the legislative body in a collective manner, are either accounted for by the executive body or accepted by the legislative body, and later authorized by the Home Ministry, thus making a judicial product a budgetary guideline.
Three such acquittals were made by the Bandung District Court this year. Eka Santosa, former West Java legislative council speaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), could breathe easily and carry on with his duties as PDI-P faction member at the House of Representatives now, after the court acquitted him of all corruption charges April 21.
Former West Java legislative council vice speaker from the Golkar Party, Suyaman, was also pardoned in the same case.
The nation's biggest graft case lasted more than three years, attracting wide public attention because it involved Rp 33.4 billion (US$3.7 million) of state funds derived from taxes and set aside for the province budget.
The funds were used by 100 West Java councillors during the 1999-2004 term to buy plots of land they deemed a form of a gift, and from which every one received Rp 250 million.
Funds for the so-called "kavling-gate" came from the assistance budget earmarked for vertical institutions, such as the police and prosecutor's office, for the 2001 and 2002 fiscal years.
The case positioned four legislative council speakers as suspects -- speaker Eka and vice speakers Suyaman, Kurdi Moekri (United Development Party) and Suparno (Indonesian Military/Police faction).
The four were deemed responsible for facilitating and signing proposal documents, as well as disbursing the funds.
"We were manipulated by the executive body to use the funds from the budget usually allocated for the police and prosecutor's office," said Kurdi.
Unlike Eka and Suyaman, Kurdi was sentenced in August 2006 to four years in prison and required to pay a Rp 50 million fine.
Presiding judge Marni Emmy Mustafa said Kurdi received a harsh sentence because he was proven guilty of amassing Rp 33.4 billion in his personal account at the West Java Bank and later channeling it to other council members.
Kurdi filed for an appeal which is still pending after more than a year now.
Ironically, judges determined Kurdi had committed graft collectively alongside other legislators who were acquitted. It is unclear how the other judges in the cases of Eka and Suyaman did not see both of them committing the same offense as Kurdi.
Suparno's fate was likely more fortunate. The public is still in the dark whether or not he has been convicted, because as a military member he sat a separate and closed trial at the military tribunal.
Upon an outcry from various anti-corruption groups in West Java, the Attorney General urged the West Java High Prosecutor's Office to review the case.
Police have questioned more than 70 former West Java council members, but there has yet to be any clear progress.
In the middle of this year, the Bandung District Court again became the object of anti-corruption groups' resentment due to the acquittals of four former Bandung municipal councillors who were accused of misappropriating Rp 9.8 billion from the municipal budget.
Former Bandung municipal council speaker Isa Subagja of the PDI-P, Entjo Warso of the Golkar Party, Saud Effendie of the National Mandate Party and Ujang Syahrudin of the Crescent Star Party were all pardoned from four-year prison terms demanded by prosecutors.
Judge Hidayatul Manan said the Bandung city budgets for 2001 and 2002 had been approved as judicial products in the legislative plenary session.
"The budget allocation was approved and there were no problems with it," said Manan.
Head of the Bandung Institute of Government Studies, Dedi Haryadi, said judges had not been impartial because they were politically influenced.
"Judges pardoned the suspects because many legislators who protested earlier were regarded as the executive body's scapegoats in the graft cases," Dedi told The Jakarta Post in Bandung.
Dedi said the acquittals reflected the public's inability to fight the so-called court mafias due to the very close association between the legislative and executive bodies and law enforcers.
"We must be more proactive by monitoring judicial institutions' performance in order to curb the court mafia from influencing court rulings," said Dedi.
The West Java Government Watch in 2007 recorded 67 graft cases involving the legislative and executive bodies in 22 regencies in the province, incurring potential state losses of more than Rp 230 billion.
