The Democratic Party's House of Representatives faction leader explained on Friday that the party gave embattled lawmaker Muhammad Nazaruddin permission to go to Singapore for medical purposes.

Jafar Hafsah said that Nazaruddin, the dismissed party treasurer, filed a formal letter to him on May 23 requesting leave for medical reasons. "So I approved it," Hafsah said. "A week before, Nazaruddin had already asked for a permission to me through text message and phone."

But various Democrat officials contacted on Thursday – House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie among them – said they knew nothing of their former treasurer's whereabouts.

Nazaruddin told the Jakarta Globe late on Thursday that he was only in the city-state for a medical checkup and would return to face the KPK as soon as the results came in.

Nazaruddin was dismissed from his post on Monday amid allegations of involvement in three corruption scandals, including a high-profile case relating to the construction of the athletes' village for the Southeast Asian Games in Palembang, as well as claims that he offered a "friendship gift" of 120,000 Singapore dollars ($96,000) to the Constitutional Court secretary general.