Jakarta. A Supreme Court justice who has been acquitted of corruption charges was arrested for a second time by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Thursday under new corruption charges.

Gazalba Saleh is accused of accepting bribes in exchange for favorable rulings for graft convicts who appealed to the Supreme Court.

One of the convicts is former maritime affairs minister Edhy Prabowo, whose prison sentence has been reduced from nine years to five following his appeal trial at the Supreme Court.

"In trials in which GS was part of the panel, the verdicts were conditioned to accommodate the interests of the corruption convicts seeking an appeal at the Supreme Court," KPK’s Investigation Director Asep Guntur said in a news conference in Jakarta, identifying Gazalba by his initials.

When handling the appeal by the former minister last March, the Supreme Court panel was presided over by Justice Sofyan Sitompul, with Gazalba and Justice Sinintha Yuliansih Sibarani becoming members.

Edhy, who has been incarcerated since November 2020, was released on parole on August 18.

"The suspect has received payment in exchange for favorable rulings issued for several defendants including Edhy Prabowo, Rennier Abdul Rahman Latif … and Jaffar Abdul Gaffar," Asep said.

"In our preliminary investigation, we have found evidence suggesting the transfer of money worth around Rp 15 billion ($964,800) to the suspect between 2018 and 2022," he added.

Gazalba was appointed as a Supreme Court judge in 2017 and has since handled many high-profile corruption cases.

He was arrested by the KPK in December last year for allegedly taking bribes in his handling of a bankruptcy lawsuit against a small lender in Central Java.

His arrest came more than two months after fellow Supreme Court Justice Sudrajad Dimyati was named a graft suspect for the same case.

According to the KPK, Gazalba was promised 202,000 Singapore dollars by businessmen who sought bankruptcy ruling against financing cooperative Intidana.

However, a district court in Bandung acquitted him of all charges on August 1, prompting the KPK to file an appeal with the Supreme Court.

On October 19, the country’s highest court turned down the appeal and upheld the acquittal of its judge.