Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Information is still missing in investigations into an alleged plot to frame two Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputies, a presidential fact-finding team has said.
The team met Saturday night to gather information from the police and the Attorney General's Offi ce (AGO). "The team has not been able to make a conclusion on the case," said Anies Baswedan, one of the team's eight members.
Anies said the meeting would resume at 1 p.m. Sunday, when suspended KPK chairman Antasari Azhar would continue to explain his position in the case. Antasari had made a partial explanation to the team earlier on Saturday.
The closed-door meeting was attended by representatives of both the police and the AGO.
Amir Syamsuddin, another member of the team, said prosecutors could prove only one of the three charges, namely that the two suspended KPK deputies – Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah – had abused their power.
Meanwhile, a key witness in the KPK scandal, Ari Muladi, on Saturday reiterated his previous statement revealing details in the handover of bribe money from Anggodo Widjojo, the younger brother of graft suspect fugitive Anggoro Widjojo, to a person identifi ed only as Yulianto. Ari claimed the handover did not involve any KPK officials.
"The total sum given by Anggodo was Rp 5.1 billion (US$540,000) in cash," Ari told reporters Saturday after a hearing with the presidential fact-fi nding team in charge of investigating criminal charges against the two KPK deputies.
Ari said the money was given to Yulianto with the expectation he would later pass the money on to the KPK leaders, and was intended to persuade them to halt investigations into a corruption case implicating PT Masaro Radiokom, owned by Anggoro.
"I handed over the money (in US dollars, Singapore dollars and Indonesian rupiah) in three installments," he said.
Ari also mentioned two new names of people who were allegedly involved in the handover of the bribe money – Bambang and Haji Labib. Bambang was said to be an offi cial at the KPK, while Labib was the one who had allegedly introduced Ari to Yulianto.
Ari said he had met Anggodo at a karaoke bar in Surabaya in July and August 2008, where Anggodo gave him the first installment of the bribes in two brown paper bags.
"One of the bags consisted of three envelopes, two of which contained Rp 1 billion each in US dollars, and the other had Rp 1.5 billion, also in US dollars," Ari said. The other brown bag contained Rp 250 million.
The second installment, the date of which he could not remember, was in cash and totaled Rp 400 million. In the last installment, which allegedly took place in February 2009, he received Rp 1 billion in Singapore dollars.
"I handed over all the money to Yulianto in the knowledge he would hand over the cash to Ade Rahardja (the KPK deputy for enforcement), who was expected to pass it on to the KPK leaders," Ari said.
However, he emphasized he did not know whether or not the money had been delivered to the KPK leaders.
"I never met with Ade Rahardja, Pak Bibit or Pak Chandra. That was why I withdrew my first dossier," he said. In his first statement, Ari testified to having handed over the money to the KPK leaders in person.
The two KPK deputies, Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah, were suspended after being named suspects by the police in an alleged abuse of power, bribery and extortion case related to Anggoro.
Ari said his July 15 testimony against the KPK leaders had been formulated by Anggodo.
"Three or four weeks before I was arrested on Aug. 18, 2009, Anggodo introduced me to Pak Susno, so that Pak Susno could hear for himself the chronology of the handover of (money) from me as arranged by Anggodo," Ari said, referring to Insp. Gen. Susno Duadji, the National Police chief of detectives.
Ari said he later withdrew his first testimony because he had realized its potential impact on the two people whose names he had mentioned, and because he could not sleep due to the guilt as "it was all a lie".