Nivell Rayda, Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Anita Rachman – On the eve of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's national congress in Bali, one party member told the Anti-Corruption Court at his trial on Monday that two fellow party members tried to cover up a major bribery case.
Lawmaker Dudhie Makmun Murod, a member of the party, also known as the PDI-P, told the court that Trimedya Panjaitan, a member of the House of Representatives' legal commission, recently visited him in his cell at the Salemba Penitentiary in Central Jakarta and asked him to lie under oath.
"Later [in court] you must use your right to say what you want, you must protect your brothers and your brothers will protect you," Dudhie quoted Trimedya as having told him.
Speaking in Bali, Trimedya denied the allegation, saying he was just "visiting a party cadre in trouble," adding that they had not discussed any specific issues. "I never asked him to do that," he said, adding that he did not visit Dudhie alone.
"I went there with TK. It was TK who asked me to join him and visit Dudhie," Trimedya told the Jakarta Globe, referring to Taufik Kiemas, the party's advisory board chairman and husband of the PDI-P's founder and chairwoman, former President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
Amir Karyatin, Dudhie's lawyer, confirmed that Taufik had come to the cell with Trimedya.
KPK prosecutors have accused Dudhie and three other defendants of having received a total of Rp 24 billion ($2.64 million) in bribes to get economist Miranda Goeltom elected as Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor. Miranda won 41 out of the 51 votes of House Commission XI, which oversees finance and banking.
Dudhie claimed Trimedya had been sent by another senior PDI-P lawmaker, Panda Nababan, whom he has accused of receiving Rp 1.45 billion ($159,500) in traveler's checks, which Panda has denied.
Binsar Toras Simaringan, Panda's former personal assistant who cashed 28 checks worth Rp 1.45 billion soon after the vote, told the court the money went to Komaruddin, a former editor at Prioritas daily, where Panda formerly worked as deputy chief editor.
Meanwhile, Judge Nina Indrawati asked KPK prosecutors to conduct an assessment of the condition of businesswoman Nunun Nurbaetie Daradjatun, whose husband said she had been suffering from severe amnesia for three years.
The KPK suspects Nunun distributed 480 checks to the four defendants, who later distributed them to members of their respective parties. She has ignored two court summons. "We need to have a second opinion," Nina told senior prosecutor Muhammad Rum.