Attorney Tom Lembong Asks The Judicial Commission To Supervise The Trial Of His Client At The South Jakarta District Court
JAKARTA - Thomas Trikasih Lembong's attorney or Tom Lembong, Zaid Mushafi, said that his party had asked the Judicial Commission (KY) to oversee the judicial process against his client so that it could run in accordance with applicable regulations.
Zaid Mushafi explained that the request was to follow up on alleged ethical violations by the sole judge of the South Jakarta District Court (Jaksel) Tumpanuli Marbun, who rejected the pretrial filed by the suspect Tom Lembong in the alleged corruption case of sugar importation at the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) in 2015 2016.
"We consider the judge to have mistaken in examining, deciding, and hearing the pretrial case at the South Jakarta District Court," said Zaid after an audience with the Head of the Supervision of Judges and Investigations Joko Sasmito and other Judicial Commission teams at the KY Office, Jakarta, Thursday 12 December, confiscated by Antara.
It was also revealed that the judge's mistake in testing the determination of the suspect and the detention of Tom Lembong was shown from the considerations in his decision.
The former Trade Minister, he continued, was named a suspect and detained on the same day at the last examination, namely on October 29, 2024, without any prior notification or examination as a potential suspect as referred to by the MKRI Decision 21/PUU-XII/2014.
"The judge confirmed the determination of the suspect and the detention," he said.
Tom Lembong's attorney assessed that the judge concerned had also been wrong in implementing the Constitutional Court Decision Number 31/PUU-X/2012, because the Constitutional Court Decision Number 31/PUU-X/2012 never legitimized the results of the coordination between investigators and BPKP related to preliminary evidence in the investigation and determination of the suspect in the corruption offense Article 2 paragraph (1) and/or Article 3 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001.
Zaid added that the process that was not in accordance with other regulations, namely when determining the status of a suspect, his client did not have the opportunity to choose his legal advisor himself so that he had violated Articles 54, 55, and Article 57 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
"Investigators against the law have appointed advocates to accompany the suspect, without ever giving him a decent and appropriate opportunity to choose his legal advisor himself," he said.
In fact, continued Zaid, the judge stated that he did not agree with the opinion of the expert who stated that if the legal advisor was appointed by the investigator to complete the administration. This is an act that is deviant and against the law.
In addition, the judge also did not consider Article 56 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code and did not consider the letter of appointment of legal counsel.
For this reason, in the future the legal team will ask KY to play an active role in monitoring the trial process so that it runs according to the judge's authority, as well as monitoring the appointment of a panel of judges who will later be free from alleged partiality to certain groups or groups.
"The Judicial Commission is an institution that is given authority based on the Basic Law and the Judicial Commission Law to monitor and examine alleged violations of the code of ethics committed by the judge," said Zaid.
For this reason, he said, in the main process of the case later in court, KY can monitor and anticipate related to violations of the code of ethics that may occur.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) has named two suspects in the case, namely Thomas Trikasih Lembong (TTL) or Tom Lembong as Minister of Trade for the 2015'2016 period and CS as Director of Business Development of PT PPI.
As of Thursday, the number of witnesses and experts who have been examined in the sugar import corruption case was 126 witnesses and three experts.