L

ess than two weeks after the resignation of Justice Achmad Yamanie, allegedly for forging a document, the Supreme Court has begun proceedings that could end in the criminal prosecution of the disgraced judge.

In collaboration with the Judicial Commission, the Supreme Court will establish an ethics tribunal to discover whether the former justice breached any rules or regulations.

The ethics council, set up specifically to investigate Yamanie, will have seven members representing the Judicial Commission and the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court spokesman Djoko Sarwoko said on Thursday that the court had appointed three veteran justices, Paulus Effendy Lotulung, Artidjo Alkotsar and M. Saleh, to sit on the ethics tribunal.

The Judicial Commission has appointed four of its members, Imam Anshori Saleh, Suparman Marzuki, Taufiqqurahman Syahuri and Jaja Ahmad Jayus, to serve on the tribunal. The tribunal is expected to begin deliberations on Dec. 3.

Djoko said that the Supreme Court took Yamanie’s case seriously. “Because we will be trying a justice , the Supreme Court should be very careful in appointing its representatives for the tribunal,” Djoko said.

The Judicial Commission had earlier said that Yamanie’s resignation was influenced by his alleged involvement in the forgery of a Supreme Court ruling on drug lord Hengky Gunawan.

Yamanie, along with two other judges on the panel, Imron Anwari and Nyak Pha, reduced Hengky’s sentence from the death penalty to 15 years’ imprisonment.

Hengky was arrested in 2006 with 11.1 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, known locally as shabu, valued at Rp 10.8 billion (US$1.13 million) and raw materials for the drug’s production. He was also suspected of operating a drug laboratory in Surabaya, East Java.

However, when the Supreme Court verdict was uploaded on to the court’s official website mahkamahagung.go.id, it said that the prison term was 12 years, three years less than the actual sentence.

Prior to the current scandal, Yamanie came under fire for some of his controversial rulings, such as when he annulled the 17-year sentence of drug dealer Naga Sariawan Cipto Rimba, alias Liong-Liong, in May last year.

He helped annul death sentences for drug convicts on at least three occasions.

Yamanie was also among the panel of judges who sentenced spiritual guru Anand Krishna to only two-and-a-half-years’ imprisonment for sexual harassment.

Spokesman for the Judicial Commission, Asep Rahmat Fajar, said that the commission had also filed a request with the National Police to launch a criminal investigation against Yamanie.

“Actually, the National Police could start their own investigation into Yamanie’s case because it can be regarded as a regular crime,” he said.

Asep said that if the ethics tribunal found Yamanie guilty, he would be discharged from his position as a judge and would be stripped of his pension.

Asep also said that the Yamanie scandal could be used as an incentive for the Supreme Court to curb corrupt practices within the judiciary.

“Yes, I think it is a good opportunity to eradicate illicit practices within the judicial system,” he said.