Witness' testimony full of oddities: Antasari

Hasyim Widhiarto ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 11/05/2009 2:44 PM  |  National

Former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chief Antasari Azhar, who is currently on trial for murder, refuted the testimony of a witness saying he had asked him to "eliminate" victim Nasruddin Zulkarnaen.

"This defendant never had a meeting with the witness and Williardi [Wizar, former South Jakarta Police chief], to discuss any [murder] plan," Antasari told Thursday's hearing at the South Jakarta District Court, after the presiding judge asked for his comments on a statement made by witness Sigid Haryo Wibisono.

"This defendant never even told the witness about any plot involving NZ [Nasruddin]."

Antasari contested several facts in Sigid's testimony, including how they knew each other and Sigid's suggestion to Antasari to ask the National Police chief to help him settle the case.

In a three-and-a-half-hour-long hearing, Sigid explained that Antasari, whom he had known since 2007, asked him to "finish" a terror campaign by Nasruddin targeting his family

He said Antasari had asked him several times to look at the possibility of using a violent approach to "settle" his problem with Nasruddin, a director of state pharmaceutical company PT Putra Rajawali Banjaran.

Nasruddin was killed in a drive-by shooting in Tangerang in March this year.

In their indictment, the prosecutors had recounted details of a sexual affair between Nasruddin's third wife Rhani Juliani and Antasari. Nasruddin had caught the pair in flagrante delicto in a room at the Grand Mahakam Hotel in South Jakarta in May last year and had later hounded Antasari's family over the affair.

The prosecutors believed this triggered Antasari to have Nasruddin killed, with help from Sigid, who provided the financial support, and former South Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Williardi Wizar who managed the recruitment of the executors.

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