TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
11 years demanded for two judges
Prosecutors demanded on Monday that the Semarang Corruption Court sentence two former judges to 11 years in prison and fine them each Rp 300 million (US$26,362) for accepting bribes
Change Size
P
rosecutors demanded on Monday that the Semarang Corruption Court sentence two former judges to 11 years in prison and fine them each Rp 300 million (US$26,362) for accepting bribes.
'The defendants both accepted bribes amounting to Rp 150 million through Pontianak Corruption Court judge Heru Kisbandono,' prosecutor Siswanto of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) read from the indictment.
The prosecutors charged Asmadinata and Pragsono, former interim judges at the Semarang Corruption Court, with violating the Corruption Law.
Both defendants stand accused of accepting bribes to sway their decision in the trial of suspended Grobogan Legislative Council speaker M. Yaeni, who was being tried on corruption charges.
The prosecutors also said that the two, along with corruption court judge Kartini Marpaung, had jointly accepted Rp 150 million through Kisbandono, who is Yaeni's friend.
According to their plan, the money would be divided among the judges and the court clerk who handled Yaeni's case. They have been identified as Lilik Nuraini, Pragsono, Asmadinata and Kartini, all judges at the court.
Kartini and Kisbandono have been sentenced to 10 and eight years, respectively, for accepting bribes from civilian Sri Dartutik, who has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Asmadinata and Pragsono were among the judges in the 2012 trial against Yaeni at the Semarang Corruption Court concerning a Grobogan Legislative Council vehicle maintenance contract worth Rp 1.9 billion.
The panel of judges hearing Yaeni's case comprised presiding judge Lilik and judges Asmadinata and Kartini. The presiding judge was later replaced by Pragsono, after Lilik was transferred to the Tondano District Court in North Sulawesi for breaching the judges' code of ethics for repeatedly acquitting graft defendants.
On Aug. 17, 2012, the KPK arrested Kartini and Kisbandono at the Semarang Corruption Court and seized Rp 150 million in cash from them.
Separately, Yaeni's younger sibling Sri, who was reportedly tasked with paying the bribes, was arrested by the KPK, which subsequently named Pragsono and Asmadinata bribery suspects.
In response to the sentence demand, Asmadinata's lawyer, Yosef Parera, raised an objection. 'The indictment is extraordinary. We ask for two weeks to prepare a plea,' said Yosef.
