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Former PKS boss stands trial for bribery

Sitting gingerly: Beef import scandal suspect Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, the former chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), sits during his first hearing at the Jakarta Anticorruption Court in Jakarta on Monday

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Tue, June 25, 2013

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Former PKS boss stands trial for bribery

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span class="inline inline-center">Sitting gingerly: Beef import scandal suspect Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, the former chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), sits during his first hearing at the Jakarta Anticorruption Court in Jakarta on Monday. Luthfi is suspected of receiving kickbacks from meat importing company PT Indoguna Utama. JP/Wendra Ajistyatama

Former Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq went on trial on Monday for his part in the imported beef bribery case.

Luthfi is accused of taking bribes from meat importing company PT Indoguna Utama as a fee for him to use his influence with his party colleague Suswono, the agriculture minister, to increase the beef importation quota.

In their 84-page indictment, the Corruption Eradication Commission'€™s (KPK) prosecutors also implicated a number of other key party members, notable party supremo Hilmi Aminuddin and current chairman Anis Matta.

Luthfi is charged under Law No. 31/1999, Article 12 in reference to Law No. 20/2001 on corruption and Law No. 8/2010 Article 5 on money laundering, which together could result in a total of 20 years in prison.

Luthfi is accused of lobbying Agriculture Minister Suswono to raise the beef import quota so PT Indoguna Utama could increase their share of the quota to 10,000 tons.

The former PKS chairman, who is suffering from haemorrhoids, is also charged with further money laundering during his tenure in the House of Representatives, allegedly concealing or disguising the origin of his potentially illicit assets.

'€œThe defendant'€™s total declared worth when he ran for office in 2003 was Rp 381 million which became Rp 2.5 billion (US$252,500) in 2009 when he was running for a second term in the House, with several suspicious assets,'€ said KPK prosecutor Avni Carolina.

Avni said that the defendant transferred a total of Rp 1.85 billion to PKS chief patron Hilmi Aminuddin between 2007 and 2008. The money was used to purchase a Nissan Frontier SUV worth Rp 350 million and a house in Cianjur Regency, West Java worth Rp 1.5 billion.

The indictment links Luthfi with other party heavyweights, including Anis.

In 2012, according to the prosecutors, Luthfi told businessman Yudi Setiawan that he could convince Anis to grant a procurement proposal for a coffee seed project if Yudi would transfer Rp 1.9 billion to Luthfi through his aide, Ahmad Fathanah.

Ahmad Fathanah. JP/Wendra Ajistyatama
Ahmad Fathanah. JP/Wendra Ajistyatama Fathanah introduced Yudi to Luthfi the year before.

Later in 2012, Yudi agreed to help the party raise Rp 2 trillion for the next general election.

The funds were to be derived from several projects, including Rp 1 trillion from the Agriculture Ministry, Rp 500 billion from the Social Affairs Ministry and Rp 500 billion from Communications and Information Ministry.

Luthfi then served as a lobbyist, approaching party members, ministries and members of the House.

During the trial session, it was apparent that the PKS had abandoned Luthfi as no officials from the party turned up to give their support. The PKS central board had earlier pledged it would provide legal assistance for its former darling.

A number of Luthfi'€™s supporters did show up though, including his supposed father-in-law Ziad, father of schoolgirl Darin Mumtazah, said to be Luthfi'€™s third wife.

Ziad has confirmed that Luthfi and Darin are married and that it was based on mutual love.

'€œThey got married because they love each other. But now Darin is busy with school,'€ he said, adding that his daughter was still Jakarta.

Speaking after the trial, Luthfi told reporters that he would file an objection to the indictment.

'€œI don'€™t understand why they talked about money laundering too. I think it has gone beyond the context of the beef case. Besides, the indictment is wrong and my professional team will prove it wrong,'€ he said.

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