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.

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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)