T

he Judicial Commission (KY) said Monday that South Jakarta District Court judge Sarpin Rizaldi could face dismissal if a current investigation confirmed that he had abused his power in annulling the suspect status of then National Police chief nominee Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan.

In his ruling, Sarpin controversially ordered the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to lift the suspect status it had earlier slapped on Budi for a bribery case and deemed the KPK investigation into the police general '€œinvalid'€.

The Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP) does not authorize a judge to challenge someone'€™s legal status through a pretrial mechanism.

Justice Commission commissioner Imam Anshori said that commission investigators would issue a recommendation to the Supreme Court to fire Sarpin from his position should the ongoing investigation find he had intentionally acted against the code to facilitate Budi'€™s interests.

'€œIt depends on the result of the investigation. The punishment varies depending on how serious the violation is. The dismissal option is on the table but again it all depends on the evidence we collect after questioning Sarpin,'€ Imam said.

Imam said the commission had questioned a number of witnesses and experts in the case, adding it was still waiting for the original copy of Sarpin'€™s verdict from the South Jakarta District Court.

'€œWe will soon summons Sarpin after we have examined the copy of the verdict. Today we also questioned the KPK'€™s legal division team,'€ Imam said.

Aware of the current probe, Sarpin, in a move to challenge the investigation, said he would not attend any summons issued by the commission.

Sarpin even stated publicly that he was responsible to God for his ruling not to the commission.

'€œIf they want to question me, tell them to come to my office if they have the guts,'€ Sarpin said, as quoted by tempo.co on Friday.

Imam did not want to comment on Sarpin'€™s defiance, saying '€œhe will lose his chance to explain the case clearly if he decides not to attend our questioning'€.

He expected the commission would make its final decision about Sarpin in the second or third week of March.

'€œWe can still issue a final decision even without questioning him should he fail to attend,'€ Imam said.

Imam said that the commission expected the Supreme Court to take the initiative to amend Sarpin'€™s ruling, which experts said had caused trouble in the country'€™s judiciary system following the influx of graft suspects filing pretrial petitions to challenge their legal status after Sarpin approved Budi'€™s pretrial motion, should its investigation confirm that Sarpin had abused his authority in making the ruling.

'€œIt all depends on the Supreme Court, but we expect the commission'€™s findings could become the gateway for the Supreme Court [to correct the controversial ruling],'€ Imam said.