The Constitutional Court Received A Report On Alleged Ethical Violations Of Anwar Usman

Constitutional judge Anwar Usman (Diah Ayu/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Constitutional Court (MK) said that it had received reports of alleged ethical violations committed by Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman.

"That's right (have received the report). It was sent via e-mail as of last night. We open and accept it as of today," said Head of the Legal and Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice and Spokesperson Fajar Laksono as quoted by ANTARA, Monday, May 13.

The report was submitted by advocate Zico Leonardo Djagardo Simanjuntak. He reported alleged ethical violations by Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman regarding the principles of appropriateness and decency listed in Sapta Karsa Hutama.

In the report document received, Zico as the reporter assessed that there was an alleged conflict of interest between Anwar Usman and advocate Muhammad Rullyandi.

It is known, Anwar filed a lawsuit at the Administrative Court against the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Suhartoyo. Rullyandi became one of the experts that Anwar filed in the trial of the case with the agenda of examining witnesses and plaintiffs which was held on May 8, 2024.

In fact, Anwar, who was a judge at the trial of Panel Tiga with Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat and Enny Nurbaningsih, faced Rullyandi, who was one of the litigants at the Constitutional Court in the 2024 PHPU Pilleg case with the position of power of the Respondent, namely the KPU.

At least, the reporter found two cases where Muhammad Rullyandi became the power of attorney, and even in one of the cases, Anwar Usman became a panel judge of the case," Zico said in his report.

According to him, it is inappropriate for a judge to ask for the services of an expert from a lawyer who is currently having a case brought to trial by the judge.

"In reasonable reasoning, Anwar Usman can choose another expert, it doesn't have to be Rullyandi, where Anwar also presents another expert, namely Pujiono. Why then chose Rullyandi who clearly had a dispute trial by Anwar himself? Even moreover, the PHPU-Legislatif case handled by Rullyandi is in a panel where Anwar is in it," he said.

According to him, Anwar should have been more introspective after being sentenced to a warning as stated in the Constitutional Court Decision Number 1/MKMK/L/03/2024, but Anwar again took actions that were questioned about his appropriateness and decency.

In the main point of his report, Zico stated that if the report he submitted was true, he asked the MKMK to impose sanctions for dishonorable dismissal of Anwar Usman or at least ask for a fair decision.