Reports on ministers’ suspicious transactions dubious: SBY spokesman

Kompas.comPresidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha has downplayed reports on suspicious financial transactions by some Cabinet members and on an allegation that a minister had attempted to extort a businesswoman.

“The reports were not clear and have not been proven yet. Even the initials [of the suspected ministers] were not mentioned. How should I comment on that?” Julian told reporters at the State Palace on Tuesday.

Julian was asked to comment on a statement by Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) chairman Muhammad Yusuf on Monday saying that his institution had detected numerous suspicious financial transactions by high-level officials including “one or two ministers”.

Yusuf, a senior prosecutor, however, refused to go into detail.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ahmad Rifai, a lawyer representing Mindo Rosalina Manulang, a businesswoman who is a graft defendant, claimed that his client had once been asked for “some fees” by a minister upon offering a “big project” to the businesswoman.

Rifai claimed Mindo did not approve the request. Rifai, however, refused to disclose the identity of the minister or the details of the project.

“The sources of the reports, including the PPATK, must back the allegation with more data and evidence. I cannot comment on something dubious,” Julian said.