Jakarta – Ari Malangjudo, a witness in a vote-buying case involving the appointment of Miranda S. Goeltom to Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor in 2004, said that Nunun Nurbaeti – a key witness in the case – was known to have had a close relationship with former president Megawati Soekarnoputri.

"I saw Nunun attending activities at the Bogor Presidential Palace. She also asked the former president to appoint her husband Adang Daradjatun to National Police chief," Ari said at a trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

He was testifying in another hearing session of the same vote-buying case that has implicated 25 lawmakers and former lawmakers from several parties, including the Golkar Party (see photo).

Ari was a former executive director of Esa Wahana Sejati, Nunun's company. He said Nunun had collected campaign funds for Megawati and had coordinated several companies to support the campaign.

The case was revealed when Agus Condro, a former legislator of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which is chaired by Megawati, admitted that he had received a cheque. Nunun's whereabouts remain unknown despite several summonings by the antigraft body. Her husband said Nunun was being treated for "severe forgetfulness".