Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – Prosecutors pressured police to charge rogue tax official Gayus Tambunan with embezzlement as part of a conspiracy to help the suspect evade justice, a court heard on Monday,

A prosecutor demanded that police add the charge so he would be able to handle the case, Sri Sumartini, a police officer, told the South Jakarta District Court during Gayus's latest graft trial.

The former taxman was acquitted on March 12 of the relatively minor charge of embezzlement after allegedly paying police officers, prosecutors and a judge billions of rupiah in bribes. His acquittal came despite the presence of Rp 28 billion ($3.1 million) in his personal bank accounts.

Gayus was initially charged with money laundering and graft, but prosecutors subsequently dropped the money laundering charge.

Two police officers, the presiding judge in Gayus's original trial at the Tangerang District Court, Gayus's lawyers and several alleged case brokers have been named suspects in the case. However, the two prosecutors who have been implicated in the case have so far avoided being named suspects.

Sri told the court that Fadil Regan, a prosecutor, called her late last year and asked that she add the embezzlement charge against Gayus. Sri was testifying as a witness for the prosecution. "Fadil called me to add Article 273" of the Criminal Code on embezzlement, she told the court.

Prosecutors in the current trial said earlier that the prosecutors who handled Gayus's original trial had asked police to add the embezzlement charge because corruption charges alone would have drawn the involvement of a separate division at the Attorney General's Office.

Corruption is handled by the AGO's special crimes unit, while Fadil and Cirus Sinaga, who led the prosecution against Gayus, were assigned to the office's general crimes unit.

After police added the embezzlement charge, the two prosecutors allegedly allowed Gayus's bank accounts to be partially unfrozen. Sri told the court on Monday that the freeze on the accounts was lifted last November.

Sri is being tried separately in the same case and a ruling in her trial, also being held at the South Jakarta District Court, is expected on Wednesday.

Prosecutors handling Gayus's original trial set aside the primary charges – money laundering and graft – and instead focused on the relatively minor charge of embezzlement.

They asked the Tangerang District Court to sentence Gayus to just a year in jail, for embezzling Rp 370 million from a private firm. The court acquitted him, citing a lack of evidence.

Following Sri's testimony on Monday, Gayus told the court that Cirus had helped him win an acquittal in the first case. He said the prosecutor had warned him to be consistent in his story – that the Rp 28 billion in his bank accounts had come from a legal land deal with businessman Andi Kosasih.

Gayus earlier said he arranged the bogus business deal with Andi, brokered by his lawyer and with the full knowledge of Arafat Enanie, a police investigator. Arafat has been sentenced to five years in jail in the scandal.

Adnan Buyung Nasution, Gayus's lawyer, slammed the prosecution for not calling Cirus and Fadil as witnesses in the current trial, labeling the decision a "cover-up." He said he would call the prosecutors himself.