Lawmakers expressed surprise on Wednesday that the respected judge who sentenced former taxman Gayus Tambunan to prison was being transferred to Sumatra, potentially taking her off the high-profile case of a prosecutor charged with misconduct.
Judge Albertina Ho will move to the district court in Tanah, Laut, Bangka-Belitung, sometime in the next month. That will take her far from the spotlight, and the major cases, of her current posting at the South Jakarta District Court and the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court.
“I was surprised to hear that Albertina was being transferred. … Even if this is meant as a promotion, the public will not see it that way,” said Aboe Bakar Al Habsyi, a member of the House of Representatives’ legal affairs commission from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
Transferring such a well-known judge from the capital to a remote district is more a demotion, he added.
Albertina was the presiding judge in Gayus’s graft trial last year. She sentenced him to seven years in jail after a different panel of judges had acquitted him in a previous trial. The Supreme Court increased Gayus’s sentence to 12 years on appeal
She is now hearing the case against prosecutor Cirus Sinaga, who allegedly modified the police documents against Gayus that led to the original acquittal.
“Everyone appreciates how Albertina Ho leads a court hearing,” Aboe Bakar said.
He also praised Albertina for being the kind of judge who could not be manipulated, which he hinted might be the reason she was being moved out of Jakarta.
Eva Kusuma Sundari, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the Supreme Court lacked a clear system of rewards and punishments for its judges.
“I’m deeply concerned that a dedicated and intelligent judge like Albertina Ho is not getting appreciation from the chief justice,” Eva said. “But she is a blessing to any district she works in.”
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar