1 of 5 Indonesian judges corrupt - official

[News_Editor]

1 of 5 Indonesian judges corrupt - official

2011-03-28 20:55:48 GMT+7 (ICT)

JAKARTA, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) -- Indonesia's Judicial Commission chief said 20 percent of Indonesian judges are corrupt, participating in bribes and failing to maintain independent during cases, Indonesia's Antara news agency reported.

Eman Suparman described the judges as 'bad,' saying that most of these judges were found in big cities, admitting that public paid serious attention to unjust judges. He also referred to the recent Gayus Tambunan case, which gathered heavy media attention as the corrupt tax officer held millions of dollars in his bank account.

However, Gayus was sentenced to prison to only three years and a half, prompting several protests. In addition, Suparman noted that the judges only based the case on documented bribes that totaled 700 million rupiah, despite holding billions of rupiah in his bank account from unclear sources.

Nonetheless, the October 2010 results for Transparency International Indonesia survey showed that the corruption percentage index rate remained at 2.8, as it was the previous year, while the country also remained at the 110th position out of 178 countries that ten independent institutions had surveyed from January 2009 to September 2010.

Indonesia's ranking was only better than Myanmar's but far left behind by Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and Thailand, in comparison to other countries in the region.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-03-28