A more measurable and comprehensive guideline is needed for the prosecution of corruption cases. The guidelines are necessary to prevent disparities in law enforcement.
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Kompas/Wawan H Prabowo
A state prosecutor from the Attorney General’s Office reads out sentence demands for defendant Joko Soegiarto Tjandra at the Jakarta Corruption Court in Central Jakarta on Thursday (4/3/2021). Joko Tjandra stood trial in two bribery cases, one related to bribery in the issuance of a Supreme Court legal opinion and another one related to the omission of his name from Interpol’s most-wanted list (DPO). Joko Tjandra was accused of bribing National Police chief of international relations division Insp. Gen. Napoleon Bonaparte and the police’s Criminal Investigation Department’s chief of supervision Brig. Gen. Prasetijo Utomo via businessman Tommy Sumardi. (These captions were translated by Kurniawan Siswoko).
A more measurable and comprehensive guideline is needed for the prosecution of corruption cases. The guidelines are necessary to prevent disparities in law enforcement.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — A more measurable and comprehensive guideline to interpret the articles in Law No. 20/2001 on corruption eradication (Corruption Law) is needed to minimize disparities in indictments and court rulings for corruption cases. This step should be taken to synchronize law enforce-ment efforts and uphold justice.
Previously, two fugitives who assisted graft suspect Djoko Tjandra in removing his name from the most-wanted list in the immigration system received a longer sentence from the Supreme Court. In contrast, former Supreme Court secretary Nurhadi and his son-in-law Rezky Herbiyono received a lighter sentence from the court.
In these three cases, all fugitives received longer sentences than demanded by prosecutors.
In regard to the graft suspect in the Bank Bali corruption case, Djoko Tjandra, there were three re-lated lawsuits, namely the issuance of forged travel documents, securing Supreme Court acquittal by bribing officials at the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), as well as having his red notice status lifted. In these three cases, all fugitives received longer sentences than demanded by prosecutors.
In regard to harsher sentences, Supreme Court spokesman Andi Samsan Nganro explained on Friday that there was no standard for making such ruling. In most cases, it depends on the judge’s sense of justice.
On another occasion, AGO spokesperson Leonard Eben Ezer Simanjuntak said the AGO would follow the due process, even when it resulted in stark differences between what was demanded by prose-cutors in the bill of indictment and court ruling.
Nevertheless, Prosecutors Commission (KomJak) chairman Barita Simanjuntak said in the Joko Tjandra corruption case, the main factor connecting the dots was judges’ perception of the prosecutor’s demand, in which the judges viewed the sentence demanded as too light.
ANTARA FOTO/INDRIANTO EKO SUWARSO
Former Supreme Court secretary Nurhadi (right) attends his trial held virtually at a corruption court at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) building in Jakarta on Wednesday. The panel of judges sentenced him to six years’ imprisonment and a Rp 500 million in fine or an additional three months in prison. (These captions were translated by Kurniawan Siswoko).
According to Barita, discrepancies between prosecutor’s demands and court rulings are not unusual. But still a guideline is needed, especially if it involves law enforcement apparatus.
Ending the disparity
A guideline for indictments and rulings is needed to solve the discrepancy between them. According to Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), in 2020, discrepancies between indictments and court rulings occurred in many cases. For instance, former House of Representatives member Romahurmuziy re-ceived a two-year prison sentence. On the other hand, Kudus Regent expert staff Agoes Soeranto received a four-and-a-half year sentence. Both of them were indicted under Article 11 of the Corrup-tion Law. The value of graft in Romahurmuzy’s corruption case was Rp 255 million (US$17,719) while Agoes’ case involved Rp 50 million.
There is also wide disparity in term of prosecution. Klaten Regency’s public works agency head, Ab-dul Mursyid, was indicted with a two-and-a-half year sentence, while North Kalimantan’s Sesayap subdistrict head Muhamad Yakub was indicted for a six-month sentence. Both of them were indicted under Article 11 of the Corruption Law. Moreover, the value of graft in Abdul’s case was Rp 202 mil-lion, while Yakub Rp 75 million.
According to ICW researcher Kurnia Ramadhana, last year the Supreme Court issued Supreme Court Regulation No. 1/2020, which provides guideline for judges in handing down court rulings under Arti-cle 2 and 3 of the Corruption Law. The regulation has been met with positive response.
Nevertheless, the ICW viewed that a similar guideline was needed for other articles in the Corruption Law. It is because the number of corruption cases is huge. According to Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) data, within the period of 2004 to 2020, the number of bribery cases indicted by the commission was 739 cases out of total 1,122 cases.
The initial focus was on Article 2 and 3 because the range of sentence in the articles was wide, between four years and 20 years for the former, as well as between one year and a life sentence for the latter.
Secretariat of the National Strategy for Corruption Prevention (Stratnas-PK) secretariat coordinator Herda Helmijaya said the KPK and the AGO had provided guidelines in corruption indictment cases. The initial focus was on Article 2 and 3 because the range of sentence in the articles was wide, between four years and 20 years for the former, as well as between one year and a life sentence for the latter.
“It is possible for us to widen the guidelines for other articles in which many disparities are observed. But our current observations suggest [it is] not needed yet,” Herda said.
KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO
Former National Police chief of international relations, Insp. Gen. Napoleon Bonaparte, arrives at the Jakarta Corruption Court to attend his trial on Monday (15/2/2021). State prosecutors demanded three years’ in prison and a Rp 100 million in fine or an additional six months’ imprisonment for removing Joko Tjandra from Interpol’s most-wanted list (DPO). (These captions were translated by Kurniawan Siswoko).
Krisnadwipayana University professor in criminal law Indriyanto Seno Adji explained that avoiding discrepancies in indictments and court rulings was possible.
“To synchronize and harmonize law enforcement, it is advisable to avoid disparities in the indict-ment and ruling. This is important for the seekers of justice who experience discrepancies within the criminal law system,” Indriyanto said.
