Rosa ready for showdown

The country’s high-profile bribery case heated up Saturday, as Mindo “Rosa” Rosalina Manulang, the go-between in the case, openly challenged the court to revisit her previous testimony.

Like something coming out of a Hollywood legal thriller, Rosa, who is now serving 2.5 years in jail,
says she’s ready for the Jakarta Corruption Court to revisit her testimony.

Angelina Sondakh, a Democratic Party lawmaker and former Miss Indonesia, has denied her role in the case, which put former party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin in the defendant’s seat for masterminding the bribery scheme surrounding the bidding process for the construction facilities for last year’s SEA Games.

Nazaruddin’s team of lawyers have repeatedly requested the bench to confront witnesses over their conflicting testimonies, including those who cornered Nazaruddin — or those who washed their hands of the case — and those who did not.

Ahmad Rifai, Rosa’s lawyer, said such confrontation was superfluous as her client was previously called to the witness stand by prosecutors for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

“Rosa testified under oath and it instantly became a legal fact,” he said on Saturday.

He said he did not worry that Angelina’s testimony contradicted her client’s. “Angelina can deny everything, but rest assured the KPK has more evidence than just testimony,” he said, adding that Rosa was “ready to be confronted by anyone at anytime.”

On Friday, the judges set aside a similar request made by Nazaruddin’s side yet again. Lawyers requested to confront Angelina with Rosa’s testimony, as Rosa has accused Angelina of lying on several occasions.

“The judges will wait until the examination of prosecution’s witnesses is over to consider request [to confront witnesses],” presiding judge Sudharmawatiningsih said during Nazaruddin’s trial on Friday at the Jakarta Corruption Court.

The lawyers also claimed Rosa’s assertion directly contradicted the testimony of Yulianis and Oktarina.

Rosa previously testified before the court that party chairman Anas Urbaningrum played a major role in the management of Permai Group, while both Yulianis and Oktarina insisted that Nazaruddin was their boss, although Anas did have a connection with Nazaruddin’s company.

Nazaruddin allegedly owned Permai Group, a holding company from where he and his wife are accused of running dozens of other companies used to win proxy bids for government projects, which were later subcontracted to larger firms in exchange for fees.

The ousted Democratic Party lawmaker is accused of abusing his authority in securing the project.

Anas was alleged to have occupied a powerful position in one of Nazaruddin’s companies, PT Anugrah Nusantara, but he has denied the accusation.

Lawyers also accused Yulianis and Oktarina of giving false testimony designed to entrap their client. Yulianis and Oktarina denied Permai Group’s US$2 million and Rp 30 billion were used to secure Anas’ win in the party chairmanship in party congress in West Java capital Bandung in 2010.

The two confirmed the money was delivered to support the party congress, but claimed they did not know it was used to support Anas’ campaign, adding that “Nazaruddin ordered the job to fund the congress.”