Akil Mochtar (born 18 October 1960) is a convicted former-

Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia The chief justice of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia () is the head of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia. List of chief justices First chief justice. The first chief justice was Jimly Asshiddiqie. He was well known as law professor o ...

that was indicted for his acceptance of bribery for an election dispute case, prompting

President of Indonesia The president of the Republic of Indonesia () is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Indonesia. The president is the leader of the executive branch of the Indonesian government and the commander-in-chief of the ...

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who appointed him, to sign legislation creating a permanent ethics body to supervise the

Constitutional Court of Indonesia The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia () is one of the apex courts in Indonesia along with the Indonesian Supreme Court. Its primary role is reviewing the constitutionality of Acts (''undang-undang''). It also has other functi ...

Career

On 3 April 2013, Akil Mochtar was elected the third chief justice. Akil was supported with seven of the nine votes cast. Akil, a former politician from the

Golkar The Party of Functional Groups (), often known by its abbreviation Golkar, is a Centre politics, centre to Centre-right politics, centre-right big tent secular nationalist political parties in Indonesia, political party in Indonesia. Founded in ...

party, had been a justice of the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

since 2008 and has a reportedly conservative approach in legal matters. He has said that in contrast to his predecessor, Machfud MD, he "would not talk to reporters much about politics." On 2 October 2013, Mochtar was arrested by anti-corruption officials for allegedly accepting at least $250,000 in bribes, relating to a disputed election in

Kalimantan Kalimantan (; ) is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area, and consists of the provinces of Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan. The non-Ind ...

. Several days later, president

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (born 9 September 1949), commonly referred to as SBY, is an Indonesian politician and retired Indonesian Army, army general who served as the sixth president of Indonesia from 2004 to 2014 and the second president of Ind ...

announced that Akil was temporarily suspended from his position as chief justice of the court and that new and stricter procedures for the appointment of justices to the court would be introduced. Shortly after, the independent ethics council declared that Akil had been removed from his position and that the post of chief justice was vacant. In the subsequent legal process, numerous instances of allegedly corrupt payments that Akil had received as a justice were presented by prosecutors.Court reveals Akil's bribery record'
''The Jakarta Post'', 22 February 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mochtar, Akil 1960 births 21st-century Indonesian judges Indonesian Muslims Justices of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia Living people People from West Kalimantan