•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

Jakarta. The Constitutional Court said it would establish a team to investigate allegations that the judicial mafia had breached its sanctum and was now at work in one of the last government bodies widely considered free of corruption.

On Thursday, court Chief Justice Mahfud MD announced the formation of the five-member team, which he said constitutional law expert Refly Harun would lead.

“In order for the court and the public to get to the bottom of the real problem, I’ve given Refly and his team until the end of November to conduct a probe,” he said.

“The team should reveal who gave the money, and which justices or court officials received it.”

Refly, also an election observer, accused the mafia, a network of brokers and officials involved in institutional graft within government bodies, of rigging electoral disputes.

In an opinion piece published on Monday in Kompas, the country’s biggest daily, Refly said he had heard of regional head candidates paying Rp 10 billion to 12 billion ($1.1 million-$1.3 million) to ensure favorable outcomes in polling disputes brought to the Constitutional Court.

He cited a case in which a Constitutional Court justice had allegedly demanded Rp 1 billion from the plaintiff, but later threw out the suit after the plaintiff failed to pay.

Refly also wrote that he had personally witnessed another candidate bring the equivalent of Rp 1 billion in dollars to the court to bribe a justice.

Previously, Mahfud had insisted that all justices at the Constitutional Court were clean.

He said what may have occurred in the cases highlighted by Refly was that the regional candidates filing the suits had been bamboozled by people claiming to be close to court officials.

“These people then kept the money for themselves,” Mahfud said. “I’m sure it’s just a trick being played by those seeking to take advantage of an electoral dispute.”

However, he said that if the allegations of court officials taking bribes turned out to be true, he would report the offenders to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Refly said he stood by the allegations he had made about the court and was prepared to lead the investigation.

“We need to ensure that the Constitutional Court remains a credible institution, and is free of the judicial mafia,” he told the Jakarta Globe.

He added that while the probe could unearth indications of corruption, it would ultimately be up to police and prosecutors to pursue a criminal investigation.

“We’re not authorized to haul up people for questioning and make them testify because we’re not law-enforcement officers,” Refly said.