Jakarta – Dudhie Makmun Murod and Udju Juhaeri, former House members from Commission IX overseeing finance in 1999-2004, testified at Jakarta Corruption court on Wednesday that they had met with Miranda Swaray Goeltom before she was elected by the House as the deputy senior governor of Bank Indonesia in 2004.

Miranda, a professor in monetary economics at the University of Indonesia's School of Economics (FEUI), was recently named a suspect by the KPK due to her alleged involvement in a multi-billion rupiah vote-buying case during her election, in which traveler's checks worth Rp 20.85 billion (US$2.27 million) were distributed among the legislators. The case has so far seen 33 politicians being sentenced to jail.

Dudhie, a former lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) who was sentenced to two years for receiving gratuities to vote for Miranda, told the judges that Miranda had indeed invited him and his party colleagues on the commission for dinner in a restaurant at Hotel Dharmawangsa in South Jakarta.

"Yes, [PDI-P lawmakers] once met with Miranda Goeltom in a restaurant at Hotel Dharmawangsa. We were instructed by our party's head of faction at the House to attend the meeting," Dudhie said, describing the meeting as only an "informal chat" in which Miranda did not give instructions to them to vote for her for the central bank position. "However, we all understood that we had come there to show our support for Ibu Miranda," he added.

Insp. Gen (ret.) Udju Djuhaeri, a former lawmaker from the Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police faction who testified after Dudi, also admitted that he had met Miranda prior to her election.

"All four lawmakers from the TNI/National Police faction met with Miranda in a building in the Sudirman business district – I forget the place, but it was right in front of the Ratu Plaza shopping mall."

"The meeting lasted about 30-45 minutes. At that time [Miranda] said to us: 'If there's any banking term you do not understand, then you can ask me here,'" Udju told the court.

Despite the allegation of money politics that surrounds her election, Dudhie explained to the judges that Miranda was indeed the best candidate during the House's fit-and-proper test session, describing the FEUI economics professor as "way ahead of the other two candidates who were also grilled by the House".

Dudhie was referring to Budi Rochadi and Hartadi Sarwono, then senior officials of Bank Indonesia who were both trounced by Miranda. During the House's voting process, Miranda earned 41 votes while Budi and Hartadi only got 12 votes and one vote from the lawmakers, respectively. "Even without the money, Ibu Miranda would have been elected by us anyway," said Dudhie. (sat)