Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa has denied any involvement in the beef import corruption case and has threatened to file a lawsuit against his accusers.

Hatta said on Tuesday that he was angry that his name had been mentioned by one of the witnesses in the case, Juard Effendi, during a trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court.

Juard is a director of PT Indoguna Utama, the company had a beef-import quota allocation from the Agriculture Ministry led by senior Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) figure Suswono.

In Juard'€™s testimony he said that lobbyist Elda Devianne Adiningrat often claimed to have a close relationship with Hatta in her attempts to convince Indoguna president director Maria Elizabeth Liman to ask the Agriculture Ministry to increase the quota.

'€œI will file a lawsuit against whoever says I am involved [in the beef scandal],'€ Hatta said.

The Office of Coordinating Economic Minister was repeatedly mentioned in testimony by Suswono, who claimed that the Agriculture Ministry alone could not have increased the beef-import quota.

Suswono said the status of quotas was decided in meetings at the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister, and that it had been decided that there was no need to increase the beef-import quota, which dashed PT Indoguna'€™s hopes of increasing their allocation.

Hatta, meanwhile, said that it was normal for the Coordinating Economic Minister'€™s office to discuss the availability of meat in the market. '€œThere'€™s nothing wrong with discussing it at the ministry [office],'€ he said.

He also urged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to only question those involved in corruption, not him.

Previously, the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA), a graft watchdog, said that such a big case had to have involved other parties. FITRA researcher Uchok Sky Khadafi, therefore, called on the KPK to follow up Juard'€™s testimony by summoning officials whose names were mentioned at the trial, including Hatta.

The watchdog accused the KPK of being half-hearted in probing the case as it had failed to name more politicians as suspects.

'€œIf the KPK does not extend its investigation, then it is safe to assume that the investigation is politically motivated and is not simply attempting to combat graft,'€ Uchok told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

The KPK, however, should not focus its investigation solely on Hatta, but dig deeper into the roots of the case, he said.

'€œThe KPK should probe into the very beginning of the beef-import quota, who drafted the regulation and which ministries were involved in the process,'€ said Uchok.

He also spoke of his suspicions about the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister due to its decision to raise the beef-import quota this year claiming it was necessary to lower meat prices in the market.

'€œBased on the data that I have, the quota actually exceeded [demand],'€ Uchok said. '€œSo there is an indication of wrongdoing in the quota increase. And the Agriculture Ministry only acted as facilitator while the decision-making power lay within the Coordinating Economic Minister'€™s Office.'€

Lawyers for former PKS chairman and graft suspect Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq have also questioned the KPK'€™s decision not to include in Luthfi'€™s indictment names previously mentioned as having roles in the case during Juard'€™s trial.

Luthfi'€™s lawyer, Mohamad Assegaf, said the indictment ignored testimony from witnesses who alleged the complicity of several political bigwigs, including Hatta, chairman of the Golkar Party faction at the House of Representatives Setya Novanto, and Yudi Setiawan, who is said to be a confidant of Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie.

'€œWe have seen these names in the dossier, but they haven'€™t been included in the indictment,'€ said Zainuddin Paru, another of Luthfi'€™s lawyers.

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