Bahasyim to attend 4th hearing after consecutive delays

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 01/17/2011 9:47 AM | National

Bahasyim Assifie, a defendant in a Rp 64 billion (US$ 7.1 million) money-laundering and corruption case, is scheduled to stand trial at South Jakarta district court today, after the hearing has been postponed three times.

The court has adjourned previous hearings because of Bahasyim’s ill health and prosecutors’ failure to prepare the indictment.

On Jan 13th, Attorney General chief Basrief Arief demanded a clarification from prosecutor Fachrizal on the reasons for the repeated delays.

Fachrizal has not yet provided a response.

Gayus to read defense in Monday hearing

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 01/03/2011 8:53 AM | National

Graft suspect Gayus Halomoan Tambunan is scheduled to read his defense statement on Monday after prosecutors recently asked the court to sentence him to 20 years in prison.

In response to the prosecution, Gayus said the indictment was not based on facts, tribunnews.com reported.

He also said the reason the sentence demand was high was because he hadn’t “taken care of the case,” meaning he hadn’t arranged a bribe for the prosecutors.

Gayus added that when his former lawyer Haposan Hutagalung “took care” of his previous case, prosecutors only demanded a short sentence.

In Indonesia’s corrupt judicial system, suspects often bribe prosecutors, police and judges to reduce their sentences.