Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK)'s director of law enforcement Ade Rahardja on Tuesday testified at a trial hearing of Anggodo Widjojo, denying any acquaintance with Ari Muladi, an alleged middleman in the bribery scandal.

Ari had claimed Ade was one of a number of people asked by Anggodo to ferry bribe money to KPK deputy chairmen Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah.

Anggodo is on trial for allegedly attempting to bribe Chandra and Bibit. He is also believed to have tried to influence the KPK to drop an investigation into his brother Anggoro Widjojo, the owner of PT Masaro Radiokom, regarding his role in a graft case involving the procurement of radio equipment for the Forestry Ministry in 2007.

Last year, Bibit and Chandra faced charges for soliciting bribes during the investigation into Anggoro, but the charges were dropped due to an increasingly vocal public sentiment they had been framed.

Their case was reopened after Anggodo won a lawsuit against the two KPK leaders for abuse of power in their investigation into Anggoro.

Ari Muladi, who also testified on Tuesday, denied that he had helped Anggodo fabricate a chronology of events related to the case provided to the National Police.

He claimed Anggodo ordered him to come to an apartment, where Anggodo and another Masaro executive Putranevo Alexander Prayugo presented him with the chronology. Anggodo told Ari to read and memorize the chronology, Ari claimed.

According to court records, Anggodo and middleman Ari created the chronology to frame Bibit and Chandra on July 15, 2009. Putranevo said in a previous hearing that he had helped Anggodo and Ari type up the chronology.

Ari also testified that he had delivered Rp 5.1 billion (US$566.100) from Anggodo to another alleged middleman, Yulianto, to be distributed to KPK leaders M. Jasin and Bibit Samad Rianto, as well as to a former director of investigation at the commission Bambang Widaryatmo. "I saw three envelopes containing money," Ari said.

Presiding judge Tjokorda Rai Suamba asked Ari why he had told Anggodo that he would deliver the bribe himself. "I was scared of Anggodo," Ari replied, adding that he would never have admitted to Anggodo that he had handed the money to another middleman.

"Who is Yulianto? How come you trusted him with that huge amount of money?" the judges asked. Ari said Yulianto had been a close acquaintance. The existence of Yulianto has not been confirmed. Ari said he had never known where Yulianto lived.

Ari testified that Anggodo had asked him to help revoke the KPK's decision to ban Anggoro from going overseas. However, earlier at the trial, Ade denied the KPK had ever revoked this decision. (ipa)