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KPK charges justice with money laundering, gratification
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Then-Supreme Court justice candidate for the criminal chamber, Gazalba Saleh, prepares for his confirmation hearing at the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Sept. 13, 2017. Gazalba, who passed his hearing at the time, has now been named a suspect in a bribery case related to the Intidana cooperative insolvency. (Antara/Puspa Perwitasari)
T
he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has charged non-active Supreme Court Justice Gazalba Saleh with gratification and money laundering after being named a suspect in the bribery case on Nov. 28 last year.
Earlier this week, KPK spokesperson Ali Fikri told journalists that Gazalba was named as a suspect of financial crime after the antigraft body traced the justice’s financial transactions. It was discovered that he was allegedly layering the bribe money, concealing it and spending it to purchase assets.
Ali said the KPK would continue to trace the flow of funds in corruption cases and prioritize charging graft suspects with money laundering so that state losses are recovered.
“This is so that asset recovery may run optimally and would offer a deterrent effect for perpetrators,” he said.
The antigraft body also found that Gazalba had allegedly accepted gratuities for a case over which he presided, but Ali did not provide further details on the case in question.
Gazalba has been detained at the KPK detention center since Dec. 7, 2022 in an alleged bribery case to secure a favorable ruling for Heryanto Tanaka, a member of the Semarang, Central Java-based savings and loans cooperative Intidana, who filed an appeal against Intidana’s insolvency.
Gazalba was caught red-handed along with his assistant Prasetio Nugroho and Redhy Novarisza, as well as court clerk Nurmanto Akmal, in accepting bribes from Heryanto through his two lawyers, Yosep Parera and Eko Suparno.
Read also: Supreme Court faces heavy blow after justice named bribery suspectHeryanto was trying to regain the money he had invested after the cooperative declared bankruptcy for failing to fulfill its obligations to return savings from its members amounting to nearly Rp 1 trillion (US$63.99 million).
Heryanto and his two lawyers allegedly bribed Gazalba and other Supreme Court staffers.
The top court suspended Gazalba on the day he was detained to focus on resolving the allegations.
He was the second justice to be named a suspect after the KPK arrested suspended civil chamber justice Sudrajad Dimyati in September 2022 for receiving Rp 800 million to secure a favorable ruling against Intidana.
As of Wednesday, the KPK had named 15 people as suspects in corruption cases at the top court, namely two Supreme Court justices, Gazalba and Dimiyati, as well as Gazalba’s assistants Prasetio and Redhy.
The KPK named Heryanto and another member of Intidana, Ivan Dwi Kusuma Sujanto, as bribery suspects. Heryanto’s lawyers, Yosep and Eko, were also named.
To round out the suspect list, the antigraft body named court clerks Elly Tri Pangestu and Edy Wibowo, along with Supreme Court staffers Desi Yustria, Muhajir Habibie, Albasri and Nuryanto Akmal.
Edy was named suspect for a different case that involved some suspects from the Intidana graft case. He allegedly accepted Rp 3.7 billion in bribes in return for a Supreme Court appellate ruling favoring the Sandi Karsa Makassar Hospital in South Sulawesi.
The hospital’s foundation chairman, Wahyudi Hardi, was also named as a bribery suspect.
