West Jakarta District Court Judge Dede Suryaman Admits He Regrets Accepting Bribes Of IDR 300 Million

JAKARTA - West Jakarta District Court (PN) Judge Dede Suryaman (DS) admitted that he regretted accepting bribes of Rp. 300 million while still serving in Kediri, East Java (East Java).

"I can say that I am very sorry for what happened. I confess my guilt and in the future I will correct the mistake," said DS when reading out his defense at the Honorary Council of Judges (MKH) held by the Supreme Court (MA) and the Judicial Commission (KY) at the MA Building, Jakarta, Wednesday 9 August, confiscated by Antara.

During the trial, DS sat as the reported person regarding the alleged receipt of bribes to ease the sentence in the Brawijaya Bridge corruption case, Kediri. At that time, DS served as chairman of the assembly who tried the case at the Surabaya District Court.

DS explained that he felt pressured to lead the trial in the a quo case. He admitted that he was in a paradoxical situation between the necessity to provide objective justice and a criminal that was not excessive with the situation faced by member judges, especially judge ad hoc Kusdarwanto.

"I faced an unpleasant situation in leading the trial because in chronological terms I conveyed, before I was appointed as chairman of the assembly, brother Kusdarwanto had told me, 'Mr. Dede, the Kediri Prosecutor's Office will hand over the corruption case file'," said DS.

Moments after chairing the trial, continued DS, he received a complaint from a person named Yuda, who is a colleague of the defendant's lawyer in the case: former Mayor of Kediri Samsul Ahsar.

DS said Yuda reported protesting to him because Kusdarwanto met with the defendant's family in Kediri accompanied by two prosecutors.

"That at the meeting, Yuda said that he had documents regarding the meeting and the witnesses who saw it," said DS.

DS then met Yuda, who according to his confession the meeting was not on his initiative. DS admitted that he was asked by his fellow judges on behalf of Gunawan to meet Yuda at a cafe.

"After I met Yuda, after receiving the report earlier, I confronted brother Kusdarwanto about the truth earlier. It turned out that he confirmed that he came to Kediri to meet the family (of the defendant) and submitted a request to me, 'Please, I want to retire in a few moments'," said DS.

Not long after that, added DS, a complaint emerged to Kusdarwanto. Due to the complaint, DS confirmed what Yuda had said.

"Because of my fear that Yuda had a meeting document, so I was afraid that if the document was returned, it would be reported, then the panel would accept the risk," said DS.

In the end, Yuda conveyed an attention deposit in the form of money amounting to Rp. 300 million. Yuda asked that the attention be distributed equally to the panel of judges.

"Brother Kusdarwanto received Rp. 100 million, Emma (ad hoc judge) Rp. 100 million, and I received Rp. 100 million. However, because there was a substitute clerk on behalf of Hamdan who took part in the work there, I gave my share of Rp. 30 million," he explained.

Furthermore, DS claimed to have returned the money he received to Yuda. According to DS, the money was returned before the judge's deliberation meeting to decide the defendant Samsul.

In front of the panel of judges at the MKH trial, DS said he regretted that in seeking justice, he had hit signs that a judge should not have done.

"I took the initiative to return (IDR 300 million). I will return it," he said.

For DS's defense, the panel of judges at the MKH trial questioned DS. The judge questioned why DS felt pressured by Kusdarwanto, even though DS was a career judge and Kusdarwanto was an ad hoc judge.