KPK locks up West Java High Court judge

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) detained on Friday West Java High Court judge Pasti Serefina Sinaga for allegedly accepting a bribe while handling a graft case involving former Bandung mayor Dada Rosada.

KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said Pasti would be held in the Pondok Bambu detention center in East Jakarta. “For the investigation of the case, she will be detained for 20 days,” Johan said.

Pasti and another Bandung District Court judge Ramlan Comel are believed to have accepted bribes from a number of Bandung administration officials tried for allegedly embezzling Rp 40 billion (US$3.4 million) from the Bandung administration’s 2009-2010 social fund.

While Ramlan was suspected of handling the verdict for the case, Pasti’s alleged role was to provide a lenient sentence in the appellate court.

The KPK charged Pasti under Law No. 31/1999 on Corruption Eradication, which stipulates a maximum sentence of 20 years.

On Friday, Pasti, who left the KPK building wearing a bright orange detainee’s jacket, told reporters, “The truth will be revealed in court”.

Didit Wijayanto, Pasti’s lawyer, said that his client refused to sign the detention dossiers because she felt the KPK was pressuring her to confess even though they did not have sufficient evidence to
detain her.

“The KPK could not show any money or items as evidence of the bribery with which my client is charged,” Didit told reporters.

He added that Pasti did not chair the panel of judges during the trial in the West Java High Court and emphasized that any verdict should have been confirmed by at least one other judge.

“We refuse to accept this detention. Why is the KPK only arresting my client, when there is another judge who supported the verdict in the case?” Didit asked.

The case broke with the arrest of Setyabudi, then Bandung District Court deputy head, in March 2013. He was charged with accepting bribes from the then Bandung mayor Dada Rosada, who was implicated in the social aid funding graft case.

Setyabudi had promised Dada’s confidant, Toto Hutagalung, that he would organize a scheme to not mention the mayor in the trial. Setyabudi also promised to give lenient sentences to the other defendants in exchange for Rp 3 billion.

The judges then handed down a light sentence of one year imprisonment and a fine of Rp 50 million to the defendants who had embezzled the city’s social funds. The judges also failed to implicate Dada
in the case.

In the West Java High Court, Pasti, who had been appointed as one of the judges in the case, asked for Rp 1 billion to “secure” the case at the appellate court level.

Dada Rosada was later arrested by the KPK and is now serving 10 years imprisonment as sentenced by the Corruption Court, while Setyadi and Toto are serving to 12 years and seven years in prison for their roles in the series of bribery cases.