Lisa Rachmat's Criminal Process Questioned, Attorney Asks for Attorney Ronald Tannur to be Released

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The legal team of Lisa Rachmat, the defendant in the bribery case involving a judge related to the acquittal of Ronald Tannur, questioned the actions of the Attorney General's Office investigators who never processed the investigation and inquiry against their client. Not only that, Lisa has also never been examined as a witness but was immediately made a suspect.

This was considered to be in conflict with applicable regulations, so the party requested that Ronald Tannur's lawyer be released from detention.

The statement was delivered by Lisa Rachmat's legal advisory team, namely Andi Syarifuddin, Anang Yuliardi, and colleagues alternately during the reading of the exception hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court, Monday (17/2/2025). The hearing was presided over by Chief Judge Rosihan Juhriah Rangkuti, accompanied by Purwanto S Abdullah and Sigit Herman Binaji.

"Requesting to accept and grant the objection note or exception of the legal counsel of Defendant Lisa Rachmat in its entirety, to annul the indictment of the public prosecutor in its entirety, and to declare the indictment of the public prosecutor unacceptable," said Lisa Rachmat's legal counsel in the courtroom.

The legal counsel of the defendant, Lisa Rachmat, stated that the investigators from the Attorney General's Office never conducted an investigation or inquiry into their client regarding the bribery case involving a judge related to Ronald Tannur's acquittal. Furthermore, Lisa has never been questioned as a witness but was immediately named a suspect. Even during the questioning, it was mentioned that Lisa was not accompanied by legal counsel.

Moreover, the actions taken by the investigators, namely seizing the property of the defendant Lisa Rachmat, were also not accompanied by permission from the local district court chief. This certainly contradicts the provisions of Article 38 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

"Even more ironically, the defendant Lisa Rachmat was named a suspect by investigators on the same day and time as the search and seizure of evidence, which was on October 23, 2024," said Andi.

This fact raises a significant question for them, as to the legal rationality of the investigators in naming Lisa Rachmat as a suspect at the same time and day when the search and seizure were conducted. Moreover, the locations of the search and seizure took place in two different places, in Surabaya and Central Jakarta.

"This action is very illogical and cannot be justified according to law, that actions like this can also be categorized as unlawful acts," said the attorney.

According to Lisa's attorney, her client was not caught red-handed in the alleged corruption case. Therefore, legally, a legal process must be carried out as regulated in the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code. In fact, procedurally, it should also be through a letter of examination or summons first in order to trace a predicate crime.

In the description of the exception, Lisa Rachmat's attorney also assessed that the prosecutor's indictment was unclear and inaccurate because there was a difference between the giving of money by Lisa and the criminal incident that occurred.

"There has been a conflict of facts, both regarding the amount and the event of the handover of money, where the defendant Judge Erintuah Damanik stated that he had received money with a different amount and size and place of handover or receipt. In fact, one of the judges stated that he had never received any money at all," said Lisa's attorney.

In addition to the factual differences, they also believe that the public prosecutor did not explain how the criminal formulation was carried out by Lisa, especially the attempt to influence the three cassation judges at the Supreme Court (MA). They considered that Lisa's role was not clearly explained. The cassation was filed by the prosecutor who objected to the Surabaya District Court's acquittal decision against Ronald Tannur.

"That the description of the indictment by the Public Prosecutor as above is a description of the indictment that is unclear, incomplete, and imprecise because the Public Prosecutor did not explain how the criminal formulation was carried out in the form of actions carried out by Lisa Rachmat in the context of the three cassation judges at the Supreme Court," said Lisa's lawyer.

Previously, Lisa Rachmat was charged with bribing three Surabaya District Court judges and even conspiracy to attempt to bribe Supreme Court Justice Soesilo who led the cassation panel in the Ronald Tannur case. Lisa and Ronald Tannur's mother, Meirizka Widjaja were charged with bribing three Surabaya District Court judges with Rp 4.6 billion to issue an acquittal.

In addition, Lisa was also said to have tried to bribe the cassation panel of judges with Rp 5 billion given through former MA official, Zarof Ricar. Meanwhile, for Zarof, Lisa promised a fee of Rp 1 billion.

For her actions, Lisa is threatened with criminal charges for violating Article 6 Paragraph (1) letter a or Article 5 Paragraph (1) letter a in conjunction with Article 15 in conjunction with Article 18 of the Law on the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption and is being charged with Article 12 B in conjunction with Article 18 of the Law on the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption.