Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Investigation into several corruption scandals is proving extremely embarrassing not just for a handful of politicians alleged to have diverted or accepted state funds but even for the media.

In the latest revelation, witnesses in the graft trial of Rahardi Ramelan, a former head of the food distribution agency, Bulog, said 400 million rupiah of Bulog funds was set aside for newspapers and televisions to gain positive coverage for former president B. J. Habibie before his 1999 re-election bid. Rahardi is accused of misusing 62.9 billion rupiah of Bulog funds.

House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, who was then state secretary, is on trial separately on charges of siphoning 40 billion rupiah out of the amount Rahardi took. Akbar claimed that the money was used under Mr Habibie's orders to buy emergency food supplies for the poor, and that the little-known Raudlatul Jannah Foundation was appointed to arrange the food delivery.

Former Trade Ministry official Khalid Ghazali said during hearings on Tuesday that four television stations would receive 28 million rupiah each while 25 newspapers and magazines would receive 21 million rupiah each for publishing positive stories about Mr Habibie under a project to influence media coverage. Mr Habibie, who was a presidential candidate put forth by Golkar party then, finally withdrew from the race after his accountability speech was rejected at the general session.

It was not clear if the money actually reached the news media. Newspapers and a television station contacted by The Straits Times yesterday about the allegations that they received the misdirected Bulog funds could not confirm or deny them.

However, Ms Ati Nurbaiti from the Alliance of Independent Journalists said lower-level politicians and businesses often gave journalists envelopes filled with money to influence their coverage. She suspected that editors and media owners had been persuaded to give preferential coverage to certain powerful figures.

Major religious and civil organisations such as the Association of Muslim Intellectuals were also given funds from Bulog to garner their support prior to elections, said Mr Teten Masduki, head of Corruption Watch. "Bulog was the funding machine ... Not just Golkar but all the big parties benefited, as well as Muslim and church groups,' he said.

Mr Teten agreed that tracing the flow of misdirected funds in such cases was difficult. "The Buloggate case is difficult to investigate and bring to court fairly because so many of the elite are involved and also because there are so many overlapping political interests," he said.

Former president Abdurrahman Wahid, prior to his impeachment, repeatedly threatened to reveal all the major political parties which had received Bulog funds over the last couple of years.