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span class="inline inline-left">In the hot seat: Former PT Permai Group deputy finance director Yulianis testifies during the trial of Muhammad Nazaruddin at Jakarta Corruption Court on Wednesday. JP/Jerry AdigunaThe role of graft suspect Muhammad Nazaruddin in the bribery case began to unfold as Yulianis, a key witness, testified on Wednesday that the defendant did indeed mastermind the Rp 191.7 billion athletes’ village construction project for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in November.

At Wednesday’s extended session, Yulianis incriminated the former Democratic Party treasurer and confirmed the role of his wife, Neneng Sri Wahyuni, in the case.

Yulianis is a former deputy financial director at Nazaruddin’s holding company, PT Permai Group, where the latter is believed to have run dozens of companies under the group proxy to bid for government projects that were then subcontracted to larger companies in exchange for money.

Yulianis, who appeared as a witness against Nazaruddin, said that her former boss masterminded the bribery and acted as middleman between PT Duta Graha Indah (DGI), the contractor that won the construction project, and the Youth and Sports Ministry, which commissioned the project, in exchange for bribes.

Nazaruddin was indicted with accepting Rp 4.6 billion in bribes, in the form of five checks, from DGI official Mohamad El Idris — who is now serving a two-year prison sentence — via Yulianis and another confidante Oktarina Furi, who is also a former marketing staffer and Neneng’s personal assistant.

Just recently, the defense lawyers said Yulianis had an opportunity to turn the tables on the prosecutors, saying she could explain that Nazaruddin had neither accepted the bribes nor masterminded the bribery.

At the hearing, however, Yulianis, who was grilled by the defense lawyers, insisted Nazaruddin was the boss as he was the one who had controlled the Permai Group and had ordered her to carry out its finances.

“I reported to both Nazaruddin and Neneng. As finance staff, I reported to Neneng,” she said from the witness box, adding that all the decision-making processes were determined by Nazaruddin.

She later admitted that her name was listed as a president director at one of Nazaruddin’s companies, Executive Money Changer. She claimed, however, that she had been forced to assume that position by Nazaruddin.

Hotman Paris Hutapea, one of the defendant’s lawyers, in a rebuttal, accused Yulianis of perjury.

“You said Nazaruddin was your boss, but an [Executive Money Changer] company certificate says otherwise,” Hutapea said, before presiding judge Sudharmawatiningsih interrupted him and told him to put it in a defense statement.

Hutapea later cornered Yulianis, asking whether or not she would revoke a previous statement she had given, in which she had said Nazaruddin controlled a safe deposit box at the Permai Group office, containing four of the five checks worth Rp 4.3 billion, after the checks had been received by Yulianis and Oktarina.

“At the same time, however, the witness said that Nazaruddin never held the key to the deposit box. She said it was Neneng and Oktarina who had it. If so, how did the safe deposit box come to be under my client’s control?”

Prosecutors objected, saying that the question was misleading the witness.

Yulianis insisted she would not revoke any statement. “I stand by my testimony.”

“As I stated earlier, I reported all fees I received from any company to Nazaruddin,” she said.

Yulianis also insisted that the checks were intended for Nazaruddin, even though he did not accept them directly. “I reported the calculation of the fee for the SEA Games’ project to Nazaruddin,” she said, “so, it was not a physical exchange”.

Defense lawyers later tried to point the finger at Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum for
being more liable than their client.