Supreme Court prepares 1,200 judges for corruption trials

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 03/05/2009 1:46 PM  |  National

The Supreme Court is preparing 1,200 judges to hear corruption trials in case the Corruption Court is forced to close this year, the Supreme Court chief said on Thursday.

"We are preparing them [just in case]. But also because we need more judges that can handle corruption cases," Supreme Court chief Harifin Andi Tumpa said, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com during a seminar in the Supreme Court building.

If a draft law on the Corruption Court failed to be enacted by Dec. 19, 2009, the Corruption Court would be dismissed and trials under its investigation would be handed over to district courts, Harifin said.

Critics and anti-graft activists have voiced concerns that the House of Representatives members may struggle to finalize the terms of the draft law if they are busy with the upcoming legislative elections in April.

Initially, the Constitutional Court had given the Corruption Court until December to complete the necessary legislation for it to remain operational after it found the Corruption Court had violated the Constitution - because it was established under the 2002 law on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) rather than the law on judicial power. (dre)

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