T

he antigraft commission questioned former graft defendant-turned-ad hoc corruption judge Ramlan Comel as a witness in the scandal involving Bandung District Court deputy head Setyabudi Cahyono.

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) spokesperson Johan Budi said on Tuesday that Ramlan was questioned along with fellow ad hoc corruption judges Djodjo Djohari and Pontian Mundir.

'The questioning has been ongoing since yesterday,' he told reporters at the agency's headquarters in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

Ramlan sat on the panel of judges for the trial of the social assistance funds embezzlement case presided over by Setyabudi. Setyabudi is accused of accepting Rp 150 million (US$15,400) in bribes to sentence seven Bandung administration officials to a one-year jail term each.

Ramlan was under the spotlight when he was appointed a judge at the Bandung Corruption Court even though he was once sentenced to two years in jail for graft in 2005. Though Ramlan was later acquitted of all charges by the Riau High Court and the Supreme Court in 2006, doubts about his credibility as a judge in corruption cases remain.

Ramlan, who used to be a lawyer and a businessman, then served as one of the judges that acquitted former Bekasi mayor Mochtar Mohamad of all corruption charges leveled against him by the antigraft body in 2011.

The Supreme Court eventually overturned the verdict in 2012, sentencing Mochtar to six years in prison after it found him guilty of paying Rp 1.6 billion in bribes to local councilors and of using Rp 639 million of state money for his own personal ends.

Despite Ramlan's history being peppered with corruption allegations, he continued to preside-over graft cases at Bandung District Court as the Judicial Commission found nothing to prove he had breached the judges' ethics code in 2011.

Supreme Court spokesman Ridwan Mansyur said he was not sure whether the internal team that investigated Ramlan in 2011 found a breach of ethics by Ramlan during Mochtar's case.

'I'm not sure. But according to procedure, if he is still in the court, either the team found nothing, or they found minor offenses and slapped him with a written warning,' Ridwan said.

Suparman said his office would closely monitor the KPK investigation of Setyabudi and his office would support the KPK should it find any offences committed by Ramlan.

Johan, meanwhile, said the antigraft body had not uncovered any relationship between Ramlan and Setyabudi in the case.

The KPK on Tuesday also questioned Bandung Mayor Dada Rosada's driver, Yono Tugiono. It is alleged that Dada is a close acquaintance of Toto Hutagalung, the head of a mass organization (Ormas) in Bandung, suspected to be behind the bribery of Setyabudi through a middleman named Asep.

Dada would be questioned as witness, but the antigraft body had not decided when. For the time being the major is subject to a travel ban by the KPK, Johan said.

According to Johan, Dada paid an unscheduled visit to the KPK earlier this month to fulfill an 'invitation' from the KPK, however, it turned out that Dada had received a bogus letter summoning him to the antigraft body. It was later revealed that the letter was sent by an anonymous person using Tiki courier service in Central Jakarta.

'We have coordinated with West Java Police [to investigate the bogus letter further],' Johan said on Tuesday.