Jakarta. Judge Rudi Suparmono has been accused of accepting bribes from the defense team of a defendant who fatally assaulted his girlfriend while serving as the chairman of the Surabaya District Court, a senior prosecutor revealed on Wednesday.

According to Abdul Qohar, the criminal investigation director at the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), Rudi received the defendant’s lawyer, Lisa Rahmat, in his office on March 4 last year, where he pledged to form a favorable panel and introduced the presiding judge for the case against Ronald Tannur.

"During the meeting, the lawyer asked for information about the panel members who would try Ronald Tannur, and [Rudi] responded by naming the three judges," Qohar said. "Rudi then notified Judge Erintuah Damanik that he had been appointed as the presiding judge at the lawyer’s request," he added.

Prosecutors allege that Rudi received 63,000 Singaporean dollars ($46,068) from Lisa Rahmat as part of the arrangement.

Rudi, who is now serving at the Central Jakarta District Court, was arrested on Tuesday by an AGO team.

The bribery scandal has drawn national attention since Ronald Tannur’s arrest in 2023 for aggravated assault that resulted in the death of his girlfriend, Dini Sera Afrianti. Ronald, the son of a member of the House of Representatives, allegedly rammed his car into Dini at a parking lot in Surabaya.

In July, the Surabaya District Court initially acquitted Ronald of murder and aggravated assault charges, controversially concluding that Dini’s death was caused by excessive alcohol consumption and that Ronald lacked malicious intent, despite video evidence showing him ramming his car into her. The panel of judges also ordered Ronald’s immediate release.

Bribery Investigation
While appealing the court’s decision to the Supreme Court, the AGO launched a covert investigation into the conduct of the judges involved in the case. On October 23 last year, the AGO announced the arrest of Judges Erintuah Damanik, Mangapul, and Heru Hanindyo, along with Ronald’s lawyer, Lisa Rahmat, on bribery charges. Searches of their residences in Surabaya, Semarang, and Jakarta uncovered over Rp 20 billion ($1.3 million) in cash. Prosecutors allege the judges received bribes in exchange for Ronald’s acquittal.

The Supreme Court subsequently overturned the acquittal, sentencing Ronald to five years in prison for aggravated assault, although the murder charge was not reinstated.

The AGO’s investigation has also implicated a former Supreme Court official, Zarof Ricar, for allegedly accepting bribes from Ronald’s defense team to influence the appeal process. A search of Zarof’s private residence in Jakarta uncovered Rp 920 billion ($58.8 million) in cash and 51 kilograms of gold bars, which prosecutors believe are linked to his history of corrupt practices during his tenure at the Supreme Court.