Jakarta – Alleged disbursement of state company funds to political parties may be linked to the murder case in which Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chief Antasari Azhar is said to be implicated.

A lawyer for the murdered president director of state owned company PT Putra Rajawali Banjaran (PRB), Nasruddin Zulkarnaen, said Sunday his client was holding evidence on such cases when shot dead. "PT PRB acted as a transit to launder money from its mother-company, pharmaceutical state-firm PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia [RNI], before the money went to political parties," lawyer Boyamin Saiman said. Boyamin added that his client had reported the graft cases to the KPK.

The KPK has investigated one of the cases, and named RNI's former director of finance Ranendra Dangin a suspect in alleged misappropriation of Rp 4.5 billion (US$440,000) allocated for the procurement of granular sugar from 2001 until 2004. "The money was only a small part of the huge graft scandal in RNI," Boyamin said.

Last week. Antasari's wife Ida Laksmiwati submitted to the police documents of corruption cases that Nasruddin had given to Antasari, mostly related to RNI. According to Boyamin, Nasruddin accepted requests for money from political parties in order to achieve a better position at RNI.

"Nasruddin was an ambitious person. He was an awesome lobbyist," Boyamin said. "He stood a big chance to take the RNI's director post. When he failed, he became angry and began to blackmail everybody, possibly including Antasari because he ignored Nasruddin's reports," Boyamin said.

The secretary to the state minister for state enterprises Mohammad Said Didu acknowledged that Nasruddin was among the RNI's director candidates in 2007. "He failed on the 'fit-and-proper-test'," he told The Jakarta Post.

RNI commissioner Ismet Hasan Putro said political parties, mostly those supporting the government, had approached state companies, including RNI, for campaign funds. "The companies did not give fresh money, but used projects as camouflage," said Ismet, who also chairs the Professional Civil Society.

Didu denied Ismet's statement, saying the government would punish any SOE directors who misused state money. "Don't make accusations without evidence," he said. (bbs)