End of the Line for Akil Mochtar as Disgraced Court Chief Jailed for Life

Jakarta Globe, Jun 30, 2014

The former chief justice of Constitutional Court Akil Mochtar was jailed on
 June 30 after being found guilty of selling election disputes to the highest
bidder. (EPA Photo/Maliq)

Jakarta. Akil Mochtar’s disgrace was complete late on Monday night after the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court sentenced the former chief justice of the Constitutional Court to life in prison. Akil was found guilty of having sold off Indonesia’s powerful local government seats to corrupt politicians.

“The defendant has been proved guilty beyond doubt of corruption,” the presiding judge at the court said, reading out the verdict.

Akil was also found guilty of corruption and money laundering during his term as the chief of Constitutional Court between 2010 and 2013. He was arrested at his house in October last year after Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators arrived with a warrant for his arrest. The commission would later say they had tapped his phone to confirm longstanding suspicions that he was taking bribes to issue favorable verdicts in election disputes.

The Constitutional Court is the highest authority in the country in such disputes. Its decisions are binding and complainants have no further recourse once it has ruled. Lawyer Susi Tur Andayani and businessman Tubagus Chaeri Wardana, better known as Wawan, were also brought in by investigators on graft charges. Wawan was caught red-handed, trying to bribe Akil to rule in favor of candidates loyal to his family in the Lebak district of Banten.

It was not long before the case widened to take in Wawan’s sister,  the governor of Banten province, Ratu Atut Chosiyah, a matriarch whose vice-like grip on the province’s finances allegedly extended to rigging just about every public contract for the province — which lies contiguous to both Jakarta and West Java — but did not include working to improve the down-at-heel province’s education system or better the lot of its citizens.

Indonesia’s highly decentralized political framework confers vast budgets and significant powers on provincial and district chiefs.

“The defendant has ruined public trust in the Constitutional Court, and it will take quite some time to revive it,” KPK prosecutor Pulung previously said in court, while Indonesia Corruption Watch said at the time of Akil’s arrest that the case was “a disaster for law enforcement in Indonesia.” ICW went on to accuse Atut of conducting graft on an industrial scale in Banten — again and again awarding tenders to companies owned by her and her family.

Several other cases against Akil have since come to light — including district seats in Central Kalimantan and the mayoralty of Palembang — and the disgraced former judge may face further charges as investigators work their way through a backlog of similar complaints.

Akil — who recently conceded he was “no angel” — was defiant prior to the ruling, insisting he would file an appeal “to heaven” if necessary.

Related Articles:

Editorial: Punishment Fits Akil’s Dangerous Crimes - New

Wawan Gets Five Years for Bribing Top Judge

KPK Discovered Secret Cash Stash in Akil’s Karaoke Room: Mahfud
Top Judge’s Arrest Rattles Justice System

The Constitutional Court, once seen as squeaky clean, has been rocked

 by the arrest of its chief justice, Akil Mochtar, for bribery. (JG Photo/Safir Makki)

Rabobank under fire over Indonesia palm oil investments

DutchNews.nl, Saturday 28 June 2014

A palm oil plantation (NOS/AFP)

Environmental group Milieudefensie has made a formal complaint against Rabobank with the OECD, saying the bank is breaking rules on deforestation.

Milieudefensie says the bank has some €47m invested in Indonesia palm oil company Bumitama which it says operates illegal plantations and is guilty of illegally cutting down forests. This, in turn, is threatening the habitat of orangutans, the organisation says.

Rabobank says it is in talks with Bumitama in an effort to improve its operations but Milieudefensie says this is taking too long. ‘Rabobank has showed itself to be extremely naïve in this and has a blinkered view,’ spokesman Geert Ritsema told the Volkskrant.

Illegal deforestation is not only against Rabobank’s own policy but against OECD agreements on socially responsible business.

If the OECD upholds the complaint, Rabobank could be excluded from taking part in trade missions and from some subsidies, the Volkskrant said.

Related Articles:

Rabobank world's biggest investor in mega factory farms: Trouw

Rabobank fined €774m for interest rate scandal, CEO resigns

Vietnam's anti-China riots prompt Taiwanese to think twice

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-06-28

A Taiwanese-owned factory plant was vandalized during
 rioting in Vietnam in May, though escaped being burned to the
 ground as happened in a number of cases. (File photo/
Chiu Tsung-hao)

Last month's anti-China protests in Vietnam have caused Taiwanese businesses who were considering relocating their factories from mainland China to the Southeast Asian country to take advantage of cheaper labor to think again, our sister paper Want Daily reported on June 26.

Rising production costs have pushed many Taiwanese entrepreneurs to start moving their mainland China operations to Southeastern Asian countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia. But last month's riots, which the Vietnamese government has considered to be legitimate protests which got out of hand has shown them a warning sign.

The unrest began on May 11, when local protesters objecting to a Chinese oil platform operating off the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, controlled by China but also claimed by Vietnam, turned their anger on Chinese companies, factories and plants, including those owned by Taiwanese entrepreneurs, in many cases burning them to the ground.　

Some Taiwanese businesses have already done well from relocating production to Vietnam and the trend had been expected to continue. Pou Chen Group, the world's leading show manufacturer, for example, has been heavily reliant on its plants in Indonesia and Vietnam.

KPK Questions Forestry Minister Zulkifli Over Selling of Protected Forests

Jakarta Globe, Rizky Amelia, Jun 24, 2014

Zulkifli Hasan has been questioned by the Corruption Eradication Commission

Jakarta. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Tuesday questioned the forestry minister Zulkifli Hasan as a witness in an alleged attempt to sell off 2,754 hectares of protected forests to a developer in Bogor, West Java.

“He will be questioned as a witness for one of the suspects, Yohay Yap,” KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha said on Tuesday, referring to Franciscus Xaverius Yohan Yap, the director of developer Bukit Jonggol Asri.

Bukit Jonggol Asria is alleged to have bribed Bogor mayor Rahmat Yasin to acquire a recommendation letter for the project — which would have eliminated one of the hurdles to transferring the protected forests.

Rahmat, a politician from the Islamic-based United Development Party (PPP), was named a suspect by the KPK in May for allegedly accepting Rp 4.5 billion ($390,000) from Bukit Jonggol Asri.

Zukifli arrived at the KPK headquarter at 10 a.m. He declined to comment to journalists.

KPK chief Abraham Samad previously said Rahmad was caught red handed with Rp 1.5 billion, but that other payments had been made prior to the arrest.

The KPK also named the head of Bogor’s agriculture and forestry agency, Muhammad Zairin, a suspect in the graft case.

Wawan Gets Five Years for Bribing Top Judge

Jakarta Globe, SP/Novianti Setuningsih, June 23, 2014

Tubagus 'Wawan' Chaeri Wardana was on Monday sentenced to five years in
 prison in a major graft case that has dragged down his sister, Banten Governor
 Ratu Atut Chosiyah, and Akil Mochtar, the former chief justice of the Constitutional
Court. (JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal)

Jakarta. Tubagus “Wawan” Chaeri Wardana, the brother of detained Banten Governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah, was handed a five-year sentence on Monday for plotting to bribe former Constitutional Court chief justice Akil Mochtar.

“Defendant Tubagus Chaeri Wardana is proven to be validly and convincingly guilty of multiple instances of corruption,” Matheus Samiaji, the presiding judge in the trial, said in his ruling at the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court.

The court also ordered Wawan to pay a Rp 150 million fine ($12,505) fine or face an additional thee months in prison.

Prosecutors had sought a 10-year prison sentence and a Rp 250 million fine.

Lawyer Susi Tur Andayani, who was to deliver the bribe to Akil, was also sentenced to five years on Monday. Prosecutors had sought seven years in her case.

Wawan, who is married to South Tangerang Mayor Airin Rachmi Diany, was found guilty of conspiring to pay Akil Rp 7.5 billion to ensure his sister’s re-election and  Rp 1 billion, through Susi, to throw an election dispute in Banten’s Lebak district, one of the few regional administrations in the province that Atut’s family and cronies don’t already control.

Atut and Akil are also standing trial separately at the same court. Prosecutors in Akil’s case last week sought a life sentence for the disgraced judge. Atut’s case has not yet reached the sentencing-demand stage.

Wawan still faces bribery charges connected to procurement contracts for health equipment in South Tangerang and Banten, along with money laundering charges, which could add to his sentence substantially.

He said he had not decided yet whether to file an appeal.

The judge said that Wawan’s lawyer had played a greater role in the bribe scheme than Wawan had.

“Susi’s role in this corruption is far more significant than Wawan’s,” Matheus said. “Susi was actively contacting Akil and met Atut, asking for support, so Atut asked Wawan to help… give the money to Akil.”

Matheus said that Wawan’s time in court was far from over.

“The defendant still has to undergo legal proceeding on medical equipment procurement in South Tangerang and Banten, and  the money laundering case, which will be also be held at the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court,” he said.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said it would file appeals seeking longer sentences for both Susi and Wawan.

Prosecutors have demanded a life sentence for Akil in his trail for taking bribes in connection to a wide range of regional election disputes.