File photo of Non-active Constitutional Court Justice Patrialis Akbar, then Law and Human Rights Minister, with Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen in 2010. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
Constitutional Court Ethics Council has announced its ruling on disgraced justice Patrialis Akbar whowas arrested by anti-graft agency on Jan. 25 for alleged bribery regarding a judicial review case of livestock import regulations.
Suspect Justice (Patrialis) allegedly did a serious violation of Constitutional Courts ethics code. And with this, we recommend temporary dismissal of him from the court bench. This is the decision of five ethics council members, said Sukma Violetta, the councils chief, yesterday.
The council will send a letter of recommendation of temporary dismissal to Chief Justice Arief Hidayat.Arief will then later forward it to President Joko Widodo.
Patrialis has resigned from the Court through a handwritten letter he sent to the Court on Jan. 30. However, his resignation is not official until President Jokowi approves it.
Patrialis is appointed by the executive branch of government, thus only the president can officially dismiss him and appoint a replacement.
"We want to follow the official procedure," said Sukma.
The ethics council also wanted to conduct further investigation on Patrialis' case.
"His resignation does not erase what he did. He will still have to take responsibility as a justice," said Achmad Sodiki,another member of the council.
The council urged President Jokowi to take action immediately regarding this case and appoint a replacement since the regional elections are nearing by and Constitutional Court is in charge of settling election disputes, thus the Court needs to be in its full strength.
(brl/red)
