Judges on IM2 Case Ignore Atmanto's Arguments

By Indra Arief Pribadi Jakarta (Antara) - An observer said judges have ignored Indar Atmanto's argument in connection with his corruption case relating to the misuse of PT Indosat's 3G network. "According to the Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP) and judicial power law, judges must consider all information, including testimonies from experts submitted by defendant and his lawyer," the observer, Chudry Sitompul, from state University of Indonesia said when contacted to comment on the issue here on Wednesday. He said, based on the judicial power law, judges should also explore the values living in the community related to the case. In the case of 3G network misusing between Indosat and IM2, Sitompul said judges should have considered information from communication and information society including witnesses from the Communications and Informatics Ministry as well as testimonies from fellow companies providing the service using the same method. Sitompul said all witnesses in the court sessions had stated that the agreement between Indosat and IM2 on 3G network does not violate the regulation. According to Sitompul, imprudence in the Corruption Court will be taken into account by judges in the higher court when the judges deal with Indar Atmanto's appeal. Previously, the Corruption Court presided over by chief judge Antonius Widijantono sentenced Indar Atmanto to four years in jail and also fined him Rp200 million for misusing the 3G/HSDPA broadband network service owned by PT Indosat Tbk. Atmanto and Indosat's lawyer Luhut Pangaribuan said the verdict did not reflect testimonies of witnesses and facts revealed during the court. He insisted that IM2 had violated no regulation. Meanwhile, the Indonesian Telecommunications Society (Mastel) will report the court judges to the Judicial Commission (KY). Mastel earlier stated that the judges had been partial and only considered testimonies from experts and witnesses that incriminated the defendant. Mastel also said judges completely ignored facts revealed in the court. The court's verdict on Indar Atmanto was given based on charges relating to misusing of 3G/High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) owned by PT Indosat Tbk as the main company and IM2 as its subsidiary through a cooperation contract. (*)