Indonesian ex-minister Thomas Lembong files ethics complaint against judges
JAKARTA: In a move seen as retaliatory against his conviction, former trade minister Thomas Lembong, a former graft convict who recently received a pardon from President Prabowo Subianto, has lodged complaints against judges presiding over his trial with the Supreme Court and Judicial Commission.
Following up on what he promised upon his release from prison, Thomas reported alleged 'ethical violations and improper conduct' by three judges handling and ruling on his case, who worked on the case 'based on a presumption of guilt rather than innocence', said lawyer Zaid Mushafi in a video statement on Monday (Aug 4).
The three reported judges were Dennie Arsan Fatrika, who presided over the panel of judges, as well as panel members Purwanto Abdullah and Alfis Setyawan. During a hearing on July 18, they ruled that Thomas was guilty of committing corruption pertaining to a raw sugar import policy he issued between 2015 and 2016, when the defendant was serving as the trade minister of then-president Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo.
The judges sentenced Thomas to 4.5 years behind bars and ordered him to pay a Rp750 million (US$45,807) fine for his role in the case which prosecutors argued inflicted a Rp 578 billion state loss.
The conviction came despite the court acknowledging that Thomas had no criminal intent and received no personal gain, sparking speculations that his case was politically charged from the outset.
During the 2024 presidential election, Thomas served as a co-captain of the campaign team of failed candidate Anies Baswedan, a former Jakarta governor known as a vocal critic of Jokowi.
While Thomas and his legal team were preparing to appeal the verdict, President Prabowo made a request with the House of Representatives for an abolition for Thomas, using presidential power to throw a defendant or convict's case out of court and abolish the prosecution against them.
The request was granted, allowing him to walk free out of the Salemba Detention Centre in Jakarta last Friday. Lawyer Zaid said his client still insisted on lodging formal complaints against the judges in the hope of ushering in correction and improvement in the country's judicial system, particularly in regards to ensuring that everyone can be treated fairly under the principle of presumption of innocence.
'Thomas is not a politician who seeks only his personal gain and could walk free from prison and leave it at that,' the lawyer said. 'Instead, he has kept his promise to continue fighting for the evaluation and improvement of the legal enforcement process going forward.'
In addition to the Supreme Court and the Judicial Commission, Zaid added Thomas' legal team would also file complaints with the Indonesian Ombudsman and the Development Finance Comptroller, whose audit of the Trade Ministry's sugar import policy was used as the basis of the Attorney General's Office against Thomas.
Separately, another member of Thomas' legal team, Ari Yusuf Amir, said that the process to draft the complaints to the Supreme Court and Judicial Commission had started before Thomas received the abolition from Prabowo.
Judicial Commission member and spokesperson Mukti Fajar Nur Dewata confirmed that the commission had received Thomas' complaint on Monday and would proceed to review and verify it.
'The Judicial Commission has been monitoring [Thomas'] case thanks to the heightened public attention it received. The commission will follow up on the report promptly in line with its duties and responsibilities,' Mukti said.
He added that the commission was open to the possibility of summoning the three judges presiding over Thomas' trial to gather information regarding their alleged ethical violations. A spokesperson for the Supreme Court was not immediately available at the time of writing when contacted for a comment. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
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