Nurhayati pleads not guilty

Not me: Graft defendant Wa Ode Nurhayati returns to her seat after reading out her defense statement during a hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Tuesday. Nurhayati is standing trial on charges of accepting Rp 6.25 billion (US$662,500) from three businessmen in the deliberation of the 2011 Regional Infrastructure Adjustment Fund (DPID). JP/Jerry Adiguna JAKARTA: Wa Ode Nuhayati told the Jakarta Corruption Court she was not guilty of bribery and money laundering on Tuesday.

The lawmaker was indicted on Thursday for alleged wrongdoing when she served on the House budget committee as it deliberated the 2011 Regional Infrastructure Adjustment Fund (DPID).

“I humbly state that the indictment was only based on assumptions that were sourced from Haris Andi Surahman’s testimony instead on facts,” Nurhayati, a National Mandate Party (PAN) politician, said on Tuesday.

At the trial, prosecutors have said that Nurhayati had accepted Rp 6.25 billion (US$662,500) in bribes from three businessmen.

Haris Andi Surahman, a Golkar Party member, was alleged to have been the middleman in the case, delivering bribes from Fadh El Fouz, one of the businessmen to Nurhayati.

Nurhayati’s lawyer, her sister Wa Ode Nur Zaenab, said that Nurhayati had not been summoned for questioning while the case was under investigation.

Nurhayati was known as a whistle-blower who disclosed alleged illicit practices surrounding the case before the KPK named her a suspect.