T

he ongoing reforms within the Supreme Court are in question after two judges in Bengkulu were arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for allegedly accepting bribes to compromise a court verdict.

Judge Janner Purba, head of Kepahiang District Court in Bengkulu, and fellow judge Toton were apprehended on Monday afternoon.

Their arrest took place around the same time that KPK investigators questioned Supreme Court secretary Nurhadi for his alleged involvement in another bribery case.

The antigraft body has vowed to intensify its crackdown on dirty practices in the country’s judicial system to have a deterrent effect on other court officials.

Aside from Janner and Toton, KPK investigators also detained three other people during their sting operation in Bengkulu — Syafei Syarif, Edy Santoni and Badaruddin.

Syafei and Edy, who allegedly offered the bribes, are the former treasurer and financial division deputy, respectively, at Muhammad Yunus hospital in Bengkulu. Badaruddin is a court clerk.

Janner and Toton, who allegedly accepted Rp 150 million (US$10,974) from Syafei, are two of five members of the panel of judges at the Bengkulu Corruption Court overseeing a graft case surrounding the misuse of honorary funds at the hospital.

The antigraft body expanded its investigation after it found that the hospital had spent Rp 650 million to influence the court verdict that was due to be handed down on Tuesday.

“We will also examine the roles of the three other judges,” KPK spokeswoman Yuyuk Indriati said, referring to the other judges handling the case.

The KPK has prosecuted dozens of judges in the past five years, but Janner and Toton were the sixth and seventh antigraft judges nabbed in a sting operation.

The other five corruption court judges are Kartini Julianna Mandalena Marpaung and Pragsono from the Semarang Corruption Court, Heru Subandono from the Pontianak Corruption Court, Asmadinata from Central Sulawesi’s Palu Corruption Court and Ramlan Comel from the Bandung Corruption Court.

In addition to the cases implicating Janner and Nurhadi, the KPK in February arrested the chief of the Supreme Court’s subdirectorate of appeals and special civil case second reviews, Andri Tristianto Sutrisna, for allegedly accepting Rp 400 million from graft convict Ichsan Suaidi, who sought a delay in the handing of his cassation verdict to the Mataram State Administrative Court (PTUN).