A witness in a bribery case implicating two Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairmen testified in the bribery trial of Anggodo Widjojo that he was forced by the businessman to make a false statement to the police to frame one of the KPK leaders.
In Tuesday's trial session, witness Edy Soemarsono admitted that Anggodo Widjojo, who is currently standing trial for allegedly bribing Chandra M. Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto, had ordered him to make a false statement to the police to trap Chandra for extortion.
"Anggodo told me to provide the police with a false statement that the bribe given to Chandra was ordered by Antasari Azhar, who was the KPK leader at that time," Eddy said at the Corruption Court Tuesday.
According to Edy, Anggodo had designed the false statement to corner Chandra with charges of extortion instead of bribery.
His testimony came when the Attorney General's Office was mulling whether to prosecute Bibit and Chandra for allegedly extorting Anggodo, following a court verdict overruling its decision to drop the case last year.
Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes, M. Amari, told reporters Tuesday the AGO believed they had sufficient evidence to convict the two KPK leaders. "The prosecutors have found that the dossier has legitimate indications of crimes," Amari said.
Anggodo is believed to have tried to influence the KPK to drop the corruption investigation into his fugitive brother Anggoro Widjojo.
Edy testified, "I heard from both Anggodo and a middleman, Ari Muladi, that as much as Rp 6 billion (US$648,000) had been allocated for 12 KPK investigators, including M. Jasin, Bibit and Chandra."
He also admitted that he had met both Muladi and Anggoro in Singapore because he was curious about allegations that several KPK investigators had been bribed.
Anggodo denied all of Edy's statements during Tuesday's trial session. He said the police had investigated himself, Edy and Muladi simultaneously.
"The investigation details are different from Edy's testimony," he said, adding that he wanted the police investigators to testify in court. "I conveyed the truth earlier in the trial," Anggodo said. (JP/ipa/rdf)