Free Judge Ronald Tannur Presents His Biological Brother As A Relieved Witness Without Being Invasion

The trial of the alleged bribery and gratification case of Gregorius Ronald Tannur's acquittal (DOK Rizky AP/VOI)

The inactive judge of the Surabaya District Court, Heru Hanindyo, presented five mitigating witnesses at the trial of the alleged bribery and gratification case of Gregorius Ronald Tannur's acquittal. One of them is Arif Budi Harsono, who is his older brother.

"Do you know the defendant Heru?" asked the chairman of the panel of judges, Teguh Santoso, during a trial at the Central Jakarta Corruption Court, Tuesday, March 18.

"Here is my younger brother," replied Arif.

Hearing this matter, the Public Prosecutor (JPU) immediately objected. This is because Arif and the defendant have a family relationship with the defendant. In fact, they are always present at the trial of Heru Hanindyo.

"His Majesty's permission, for Mr. Arif Budi, it is in the file indeed, but because the person concerned is present at every trial, please allow us to object if he is a witness," said the prosecutor.

Heru's attorney said the information Arif would convey was not related to this case. He said Arif would explain about Heru's inheritance.

"His Majesty's permission, the statement that will be conveyed by Mr. Arif Budi has nothing to do with the past trial issue," said Heru's attorney.

"Yes, it's not a problem, it means, but he is present every day at the trial, Mr. Heru is present," said the judge.

"His Majesty's permission, because how can we prove that his property comes from inheritance if he doesn't present his Majesty's family, because one of us is that there are several assets that are inheritance assets, how can we prove it is inheritance without bringing family, Your Majesty," said Heru's attorney.

Until finally, the judge decided that Arif could still provide his statement but without being sworn in.

"For example, I leave it to Your Majesty, but we want the witness to be heard in today's trial, for consideration or not, we will hand it over to the panel," said Heru's attorney.

For information, three non-active judges at the Surabaya District Court were charged with accepting bribes in the form of gifts or promises of Rp4.67 billion and gratuities in cases of alleged bribery and gratuities for granting acquittal to the convicted murder of Ronald Tannur in 2024.

In addition to bribes, the three are also suspected of receiving gratuities in the form of rupiah and various foreign currencies, namely Singapore dollars, Malaysian ringgit, Japanese yen, euro, and Saudi riyals.

The defendant was charged with Article 12 letter c or Article 6 Paragraph (2) or Article 5 Paragraph (2) and Article 12 B in conjunction with Article 18 of Law (UU) Number 31 of 1999 concerning Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001 in conjunction with Article 55 Paragraph (1) of the 1st Criminal Code.

The bribes allegedly received by the three judges included Rp1 billion and 308 thousand Singapore dollars or Rp3.67 billion (exchange rate of Rp11,900).