Jakarta. The Jakarta High Court has upheld the corruption conviction of Supreme Court Justice Gazalba Saleh and added his jail time by another two years in one of the country’s most complicated trials.

The latest verdict issued on Monday sentenced Gazalba to 12 years in prison and a penalty of Rp 1 billion for corruption and money laundering but he looks certain to lodge another appeal and prolong the legal battle.

His conviction was published on the High Court’s website on Thursday.

Gazalba was previously acquitted of all charges three times before the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) won a court order for his retrial.

He is accused of accepting at least Rp 650 million (approximately $40,500) while adjudicating an appeal case at the Supreme Court, allegedly in exchange for overturning a guilty verdict.

He allegedly accepted the money from Jawahirlul Fuad, who was sentenced to one year in prison in April 2021 by a district court in Jombang Regency, East Java, for unauthorized toxic and hazardous waste management involving his metal company, Logam Jaya. 

In addition to the bribery charges, prosecutors accused Gazalba of concealing the funds from other defendants seeking favorable rulings by converting them into other assets for personal gain.

According to the indictment, Gazalba utilized the funds to purchase a Toyota Alphard, acquire properties in Bogor and Bekasi, settle home installments in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta totaling Rp 2.95 billion, and convert foreign currencies into rupiah.

Rollercoaster Legal Battle
Appointed as a Supreme Court judge in 2017, Gazalba has presided over numerous high-profile corruption cases.

He was initially arrested by the KPK in December 2022 for allegedly accepting bribes in connection with a bankruptcy lawsuit against a small lender in Central Java. His arrest followed that of fellow Supreme Court Justice Sudrajad Dimyati, also implicated in the same case.

However, a district court in Bandung acquitted Gazalba of all charges on August 1, 2023, prompting the KPK to appeal the decision. 

His second victory in the legal battle against the KPK came on October 19, 2023, when fellow Supreme Court justices turned down the commission’s appeal and upheld the acquittal.

In a retrial in which he faced new corruption and money laundering charges, Gazalba was released again under a preliminary ruling of the Central Jakarta District Court on administrative grounds on May 27, with the judges pointing a lack of warrant from the attorney general.

The Jakarta High Court came to the KPK’s rescue, ruling that KPK prosecutors are authorized to prosecute graft defendants and that the indictment against the troubled justice has met formal requirements.

Even before Gazalba was tried, KPK prosecutors had prosecuted hundreds of corruption cases and won most of them in the past two decades without a prior assignment from the attorney general.

The High Court ordered another trial and Gazalba was finally found guilty of all charges and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment on October 15.

His appeal to the High Court backfired after his conviction was upheld and his jail time was extended by two years.