A key witness in a graft trial on the beef importation scandal testified on Wednesday that leaders of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) devised a scheme to rig the government project and used kickbacks from a private company to pay for party campaigns.

Elda Devianne Adiningrat, an alleged broker in the case, testified under oath at the Jakarta Corruption Court that a meeting took place between then PKS chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, the party chief patron Hilmi Aminuddin, senior member of the party Agriculture Minister Suswono and graft suspect Ahmad Fathanah in Lembang, West Java, in 2012, to devise a plan to favor meat importation company PT Indoguna Utama.

'It's true. I was told by Fathanah about the meeting,' Elda said in her testimony during a trial session
of Juard Effendi and Arya Abdi Effendi, both directors of PT Indoguna Utama. The two defendants were alleged to have lobbied Suswono through Elda, Fathanah and Luthfi.

Elda said everybody in the meeting agreed to help PT Indoguna Utama secure government contracts through having a higher meat import quota that would be decided by the Agriculture Ministry.

In return for the senior politicians' commitment to help PT Indoguna Utama, the company's president director Maria Elizabeth Liman was expected to give financial support to the PKS, she added.

Hilmi, the party's chief patron, met the Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK) summons on Tuesday to testify as a witness in the case.

During the questioning, KPK investigators played a wiretapped phone conversation between Fathanah and his fourth son, Ridwan Hakim, who was suspected of being another go-between in the scandal.

In the conversation, Ridwan allegedly asked Fathanah to prepare Rp 17 billion (US$1.8 million) as payment for a party leader.

Hilmi denied he knew Fathanah.

Later in her testimony, Elda shed further light on Ridwan's role in the scheme. Elda said she met with Ridwan and Fathanah in Kuala Lumpur in January this year.

Elda traveled to Malaysia alone after Indoguna president director Elizabeth failed to go due to a conflicting schedule.

'He [Ridwan] asked me how well I'd known Elizabeth and whether she could be trusted and that nothing bad would happen,' Elda said.

Ridwan also said to Elda that he and Fathanah could lend PT Indoguna Utama a hand as long they could trust her.

'If we help bu Elizabeth, can we be sure she will behave?' Elda said, quoting Ridwan's statement.

Fathanah's lawyer, Ahmad Rozi, said his client never divulged anything about the Lembang meeting.

'He, however, told me about the meeting in Kuala Lumpur, but I did not know the detail of the meeting, including who he met,' he told The Jakarta Post.

The lawyer of Luthfi and Hilmi, Zainuddin Paru, said he was unaware of both meetings.

'I only knew about the meeting in Medan,' he said, referring to the meeting between Elizabeth, Fathanah, Luthfi and Suswono in January, where Elizabeth allegedly lobbied Suswono to grant her company the additional quota.

The Wednesday trial also revealed that Elda and Fathanah were supposed to give Rp 1 billion to Ahmad Zaky, a secretary to Luthfi, as a fee for the additional quota.

But since Elda and Fathanah had failed to secure the additional quota, no payment had been made.

KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said prosecutors would dig deeper for information.

'The KPK will validate every piece of information from witnesses to determine whether they are true or not because they have to be backed up by supporting evidence,' he said.

Also testifying at Wednesday's trial was Indoguna's Elizabeth, who acknowledged that she gave Rp 1 billion to Fathanah for a PKS political campaign in West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara.

'It was not a fee from our company that was meant to pay for the additional quota. It was purely a donation,' she said.

In a related development, KPK investigators raided the PKS headquarters on Jl. TB Simatupang in South Jakarta on Wednesday, including the treasury room.

After a week-long standoff, KPK investigators managed to seize six cars ' suspected purchases of Luthfi with illicit funds ' at the PKS headquarters.

The investigators were joined by members of the National Police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob).

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