Rizky Amelia – Antigraft officials have questioned several witnesses in connection to the corruption charges against Angelina Sondakh as they ramp up their investigation into the Democratic Party legislator.
Muhammad Nazaruddin, the former Democratic treasurer and the one who implicated Angelina in a raft of bid-rigging cases, was grilled for the second time about Angelina by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
Priharsa Nugraha, a KPK spokesman, confirmed that Nazaruddin was questioned as a witness against Angelina, who has been arrested and charged in two cases of corruption.
Nazaruddin was convicted and jailed earlier this year for rigging the tender for the construction of the athletes' village for the Southeast Asian Games.
Angelina has been charged in the same case, as well as for bid-rigging in the project to build the Hambalang sports center in Sentul, Bogor.
Priharsa said the KPK was also expanding its investigation into other cases in which Angelina has been implicated, including in procurement projects for the Education Ministry.
Dadang Sudiyarto, the head of the ministry's budget office, was questioned later on Thursday. The procurement project involved 16 state universities and Rp 600 billion ($63.6 million) in public funds.
At the time of the alleged offenses, Angelina was a member of the House of Representatives Budget Committee, which approves allocations of the state budget. She was also a member of House Commission X, which oversees sports affairs.
Priharsa said her role on the Budget Committee, which has come under public scrutiny for allegations of budget-fixing, was also being looked into by the KPK.
He said that one of the other witnesses questioned on Thursday was Nining Indra Saleh, the House secretary general, who was called in about Angelina's work on the Budget Committee.
Tama Satrya Langkun, a researcher with Indonesia Corruption Watch, said Nining's questioning should yield valuable leads for the KPK investigators. "There should be many things the KPK can get from questioning the secretary general because she must know about many deals involving legislators," he said.
However, Nining denied knowing anything about the cases in which Angelina was charged. "I don't know. I'm just the House secretary general," she said. She added that she had handed over 25 documents to the KPK as evidence, including a copy of the letter appointing Angelina to the Budget Committee.
Angelina, a former Miss Indonesia and Democrat deputy secretary general, was questioned by the KPK a day earlier.
Her lawyer, Teuku Nasrullah, said his client faced 21 questions from the KPK, but added that they were only related to the decision-making process at the House. "The questions did not touch on any specific projects," Nasrullah said.
He said his client was ready to answer questions on the Hambalang complex if the KPK asked her. "My client will cooperate fully with the KPK," Nasrullah said.
Antigraft activists have called on Angelina to cooperate with the KPK to go after the higher officials implicated in the cases, including Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng and Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum.