No threatening message or recording found on Nasruddin's cell phone: Witness

An information technology expert, testifying at the murder trial of former antigraft leader Antasari Azhar, told the court Tuesday that he did not find any threatening text message from Antasari to murder victim Nasruddin Zulkarnaen on the latter's cellular phone.

IT expert Agung Harsoyo also stated that he did not find any recording of a conversation between Antasari and Nasruddin's wife Rhani Juliani, allegedly recorded by Nasruddin.

Agung told the South Jakarta District Court that the cell phone was probably broken so that it could not show the message allegedly containing the threat from Antasari to Nasruddin in February.

Previously, state prosecutors had accused Antasari of having sent a message threatening Nasruddin not to speak about the former's meeting with Rhani at a hotel in May last year.

Agung said that he did not find the recorded conversation between Rhani and Antasari at the hotel.

“When I tried to open [the phone database], it showed nothing,” the lecturer from the Technical, Electronic and Information School of Bandung Technology Institute (ITB) told journalists after the hearing.

During the trial last week, another IT expert Ruby Zukri Alamsyah said he had analyzed the recording containing a dialogue between the defendant and Rhani.

Ruby said Nasruddin was recording the conversation via Rhani's cell phone, which was activated during the meeting.

Today, Agung said the court should have analyzed the Call Detail Record (CDR) to prove the existence of the threatening text message and the recording.

A panel of judges has yet to decide whether or not they will allow experts to examine the CDR.

Antasari, former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chief, is currently on trial for allegedly plotting the murder of Nasruddin, a director of state pharmaceutical company PT Putra Rajawali Banjaran, one of RNI’s 15 subsidiaries.

Nasruddin was killed in a drive-by shooting on March 14 near Modernland golf course in Tangerang, Banten.

In their indictment, the prosecutors said Nasruddin had caught Antasari red-handed in an affair with Rhani. Nasrudin then used the incident at the hotel as a means to blackmail Antasari and requested that he help him secure a position as a director in RNI.

This was believed to have triggered Antasari to have Nasruddin killed.