Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – The Jakarta Corruption Court heard on Tuesday allegations that members of the First Family's inner circle were involved in the corruption scandal surrounding the Hambalang sports complex project.
Mindo Rosalina Manulang, the former marketing director of PT Anak Negeri, a company owned by former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin, said that many people, including a woman she identified "as the head of the Cikeas household", wanted to get a slice of the lucrative project. Cikeas refers to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's family estate in Bogor, West Java.
Mindo said her former boss was upset that he did not win the tender for the construction project. She said Nazaruddin had paid Rp 10 billion (US$841,397) in bribes to some parties involved in the graft case, including Joyo Winoto, former head of the National Land Agency (BPN), and former youth and sports minister Andi Alifian Mallarangeng, but to no avail.
Mindo then told Wafid Muharram, the former secretary at the sports ministry, that Nazaruddin would not seek repayment of the Rp 10 billion as long as his company secured the tender for the Hambalang equipment-procurement project.
She claimed, however, that Wafid told her that someone else had already asked for it. "I'm sorry but Ibu Pur was already here [saying that she wanted the tender]," Mindo said, quoting Wafid. Following this rejection she asked who Ibu Pur was, to which Wafid replied that she was the head of the Cikeas family household.
Ibu Pur is believed to be the nickname for Sylvia Sholehah, a close friend of First Lady Ani Yudhoyono. In the cover story of its July 15, 2013, edition, Tempo reported that Sylvia was the wife of Purnomo D. Rahardjo, a retired military official who graduated from the Armed Forces Academy in 1973, the same year as Yudhoyono. She is believed to have played a crucial role in the project.
Widodo Wisnu Sayoko, believed to be a cousin of President Yudhoyono, has testified that he and Sylvia tried to help the Finance Ministry in handling documents necessary for the project. In his testimony, Widodo said that he, Sylvia and Arif Gunawan once had a meeting with Sudarto, a retired official at the Finance Ministry's budget department, in 2010.
When KPK prosecutors asked him about an SMS text message Widodo sent to Sudarto, he admitted that he once offered Sudarto his help in the project. "[I told Sudarto] if there were any difficulties [in the project], I would report to my boss and maybe he could help. That's it," he said, referring to Arif as his boss.
Cabinet secretary Dipo Alam denied Mindo's claim that Ibu Pur was part of the President's inner circle. According to him, there is no such position as the head of the Cikeas family household. "I can confirm that the position of household head in Cikeas, as claimed by [Mindo] in court, has never existed," Dipo said in a statement uploaded to the Cabinet secretary's website.
Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha acknowledged that Ibu Pur's husband was in the same class as Yudhoyono, but she was not part of the President's inner circle.