MA SUSPENDS JUDGE IBRAHIM

Jakarta, March 30 (ANTARA) - The Supreme Court (MA) on Tuesday suspended Ibrahim as a judge with the Jakarta State Administrative Court after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) caught him earlier in the day for allegedly taking a bribe.
"Today the Director General of Military Tribunal and State Administrative Court issued a letter suspending the judge," MA spokesman Nurhadi said.

Nurhadi said the MA leadership arrived at the decision to suspend Ibrahim after a meeting led by MA deputy chairman for non-judicial affairs Ahmad Kamil.

"The MA fully leaves the case to the KPK to investigate," he said.

He said the MA also had instructed the head of the MA's Supervisory Body and the head of the Jakarta Appellate Court to coordinate with the KPK.

Should Ibrahim be found guilty he would be sacked, he said.

Earlier in the day, the KPK officially named Ibrahim and a lawyer, Adner S, suspects in a bribery case.

"Both were named suspects after undergoing questioning," KPK spokesman Johan Budi said here on Tuesday.

Ibrahim was accused of taking a bribe of Rp300 million from Adner in relation to a case tried at the Jakarta State Administrative Court, Johan said.

He said a KPK team arrested Ibrahim and Adner at 10.30 a.m. on Tuesday in Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta, shortly after they got out of their cars.

The team found Ibrahim receiving a plastic bag from Adner and later examined the bag in which they found Rp300 million in cash contained in two brown envelops, he said.

He said the team had followed Ibrahim and Adner since they were at the court in Cikini, Central Jakarta.

Both would be detained to facilitate the investigation process, he said.

Johan believed Adner had bribed the judge in relation to the case he was handling. "He is believed to have bribed the judge to win in the case."
But he stopped short of revealing the case.

A source said the case surrounded a land dispute between a company identified as PT S and a state agency.