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s Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng and his brother denied involvement in a high-profile graft case, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Tuesday said it would target several people mentioned in the trial of Muhammad Nazaruddin, the alleged mastermind of the crime.

Mindo Rosalina Manulang, who was convicted for her role in the case, which centers on the construction of a Rp 191.7 billion athletes’ village in South Sumatra, testified on Monday that Andi Mallarangeng and Zulkarnain “Choel” Mallarangeng had accepted some of the bribe money she had helped distribute.

According to Rosa, who testified as a witness in Nazaruddin’s trial, Nazaruddin used his firm PT Permai Group to pay Rp 500 million to the sports minister to support the latter’s chairmanship candidacy in the 2010 Democratic Party convention.

The party’s chairmanship was ultimately won by Anas Urbaningrum, who allegedly ran a business with Nazaruddin.

Rosa also testified that some of the Rp 20 billion in bribes paid to the ministry’s secretary, Wafid Muharram, were “commitment fees” to win several projects held by the ministry, including the South Sumatra project and a sports center project in Hambalang, West Java, which also went to Choel.

“We are currently broadening our investigation … we are probing not only the suspect [Nazaruddin], but also his gangs,” KPK deputy chief Bambang Widjojanto said Tuesday.

He added that his office would use all information to expand its investigation, adding that it would, without doubt, include “the ones mentioning the Mallarangeng brothers”.

Rosa’s testimony before the court, he said, was “legitimate evidence to support both KPK preliminary inquiries and investigations, as well as to prosecute suspects or even possibly open new cases”.

There are many ongoing preliminary inquiries into cases connected to Nazaruddin and his colleagues, Bambang said. However, he declined to disclose what the cases were, instead urging the public to be patient as the investigators had their own strategies.

The KPK, he said, sought to summon for questioning all actors revealed during trials to have allegedly implicated in any cases, including both Andi and Choel.

KPK chief Abraham Samad was of the same opinion that “no one is above the law, including Anas
Urbaningrum”.

Choel denied the allegations, saying it was impossible that Nazaruddin, who backed Anas’ candidacy in 2010, channeled funds to Andi, who was Anas’ rival in the Democratic Party’s 2010 convention.

Andi, a member of the Democratic Party advisory council and a confidant of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was competing against the party’s current chairman, Anas, and House Speaker Marzuki Alie to win the party’s top position on May 21, 2010.

Choel owns Fox Indonesia, one of the country’s most successful political consultancies.

“This does not make sense,” he said. “How come Nazaruddin, who was backing Anas, gave me money? I was Andi’s campaign team member during the selection.”

Andi also denied accusations that his campaign team had accepted money from Nazaruddin’s company.

“That’s not true. I don’t believe it. If that’s true, bring me the evidence,” he said as quoted by Antara.