Rizky Amelia – Former Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari wrote off at least Rp 6.8 billion ($760,000) in alleged embezzlement under her watch as "small" and "trifling," after her questioning on Tuesday by antigraft investigators.

"These issues are actually trifling compared to other national issues," she said upon leaving the Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK) office. "Hopefully the KPK doesn't bore itself with this small matter."

Siti, who served as minister between 2004 and 2009, was called in by the KPK as a witness against Ratna Dewi Umar, the ministry's former director of medical services.

Ratna has been named a suspect for her role in various alleged mark-ups and other forms of embezzlement linked to the procurement of equipment in 2007, which are believed to have caused at least Rp 6.8 billion in state losses.

Siti declined to go into detail about her questioning, saying she was only asked by the KPK to "confirm whether this or that was true or not."

She also denied any knowledge of the alleged graft, saying there had been so many procurement projects under her watch that she could not keep track of all of them.

"There were lots of them, thousands of projects," she said. "I've been summoned for questioning by the KPK on many occasions, each time to answer for a different case. I believe there are seven cases that they're investigating. So one by one I've had to confirm and clarify that those projects were carried out by [my subordinates] at the ministry."

However, Indonesia Corruption Watch activist Febri Hendri said that according to ministry documents obtained by the antigraft group, Siti instructed her subordinates in June 2006 to bypass the tender process in a project to procure equipment for the ministry's crisis response center to deal with a bird flu outbreak.

In a letter addressed to the ministry's Directorate General of Medical Services, where Ratna worked, Siti said that the project "should be done immediately, so a direct appointment is needed." The letter purported to show the former minister arguing that the avian flu outbreak was an extraordinary event threatening many lives.

Rustam Pakaya, the former crisis center head and current human resources director at Dharmais Cancer Hospital, has been named a suspect by the KPK for his role in the project.

The KPK is also investigating a Rp 500 million donation that the ministry made in 2007 to a women's Koran recital group that was believed to have come from the embezzled money.

Actress Sri Wahyuningsih, who was part of the group and also questioned on Tuesday, said she had been asked whether she knew that the donation came from embezzled funds.

"I wasn't aware of it at all," she told reporters. "If I'd known, I wouldn't have accepted it. The nerve of donating it to a Koran recital group!" She added that as far as she knew, the money was a contribution from the Health Ministry for a musical event.