Ezra Sihite – The fallout from Muhammad Nasir's controversial late-night visit to his brother in prison continued to grow on Tuesday, with the Democratic Party lawmaker being questioned by the House of Representatives Ethics Council.

It also emerged on Tuesday that he had been transferred from the prestigious House commission that oversees legal affairs to one that handles health and manpower.

After an hour of questioning by the Ethics Council, Nasir reiterated to reporters waiting outside that his late night-visit to Muhammad Nazaruddin last Wednesday was personal. "I visited him as family," Nazarrudin's elder brother said.

The controversial stop, which was made after visiting hours and without the proper permits, has already led to the removal of four Cipinang Prison officials.

Ethics Council member Fahri Hamzah stressed that the council was in the preliminary stages of dealing with Nasir. "We are only verifying facts. We have not yet held a disciplinary hearing," Fahri said.

Ethics Council deputy chairman Siswono Yudo Husodo said that the council would also summon several other people, including Deputy Justice Minister Denny Indrayana and the head of Cipinang Prison.

According to Apung Widadi of Indonesia Corruption Watch, the visit constituted a misuse of authority.

"After we looked into this a little further, we discovered this was not the first time that Nasir had visited Nazarrudin at Cipinang Prison," Apung said. "We are going to hand over to the Ethics Council amateur video footage as proof of breaches of the House code of ethics."

Each of Nasir's visits to Cipinang were conducted outside official visiting hours, Apung said, citing visitor book entries on Dec. 25, 26 and 30 at 7:30 p.m., 8:00 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. respectively.

There were likely other unrecorded visits, he said. "The meeting on February 8 was not noted in the visitors book. We suspect Nasir often visited Nazarrudin without leaving a record."

On Nasir's removal from Commission III, Sutan Bhatoegana, deputy head of the Democrats in the House, said he couldn't confirm if it was related to the visit, saying only that the decision was made by Jafar Hafsah, the Democratic head in the House.