Saldi Matta, the younger brother of Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Anis Matta, revealed while giving testimony in the trial of graft suspect Ahmad Fathanah on Thursday that he was once asked by Fathanah to store Rp 3 billion (US$264,000).

Saldi said that Fathanah, an alleged go-between in the beef import graft case, wanted him to put the money in a safe in his office on Jl. Tebet Dalam Raya in South Jakarta on Oct. 17, 2012.

'€œHe once deposited Rp 3 million in cash stored inside a travel bag. The money was in Rp 100.000 bills,'€ he testified during the hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

Saldi said that he initially declined to store the cash.

'€œMy office is located on a main street and there is no security. Therefore, it would be risky [for me to keep the money],'€ he said.

But he finally agreed to Fathanah'€™s plea and kept the money inside his safe for two weeks, he added.

'€œAll he said was that the money was from the bank,'€ Saldi said, claiming that he did not receive a single penny.

Just as he was about to put the money in the safe, Fathanah took Rp 500 million, Saldi said.

Fathanah then took another Rp 800 million on Oct. 25, 2012, and finally took the rest of the money on Nov. 1, 2012, he said.

Saldi, who is a native of Makassar, South Sulawesi like Fathanah said that he did not question Fathanah about the money because he trusted him given his family background.

Fathanah is the eighth child of Fadeli Luran, a respected figure in Makassar, South Sulawesi, who established a renowned Islamic organization as well as an Islamic boarding school called IMMIM in the city.

'€œI believe him because he drove a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado. He came from an honorable family,'€ he said, referring to a Toyota SUV model with a price tag of Rp 1 billion.

Saldi, later learned that Fathanah used the money to buy a house.

In Fathanah'€™s indictment, it is revealed that he paid Rp 800 million for a house in Pesona Khayangan residential area in Depok, West Java, in October 2012.

The court then revealed that Fathanah borrowed Rp 20 million from Saldi one day after he initially asked Saldi to store the Rp 3 billion.

Besides borrowing the Rp 20 million, it was revealed that Fathanah also made a habit out of borrowing money from Saldi, who said that he had only known Fathanah since July 2012.

'€œBetween Oct. 13 and Oct. 15, 2012, he [Fathanah] borrowed Rp 50 million,'€ Saldi said.

He added that Fathanah once again borrowed money from him to buy a suite priced at Rp 5.2 million and a Louis Vuitton bag worth Rp 20 million on Oct. 25, 2012.

'€œA few days after that, he borrowed Rp 15 million,'€ he said.

On Thursday, Saldi was expected to testify at the hearing with his brother Anis and businessman Yudi Setiawan. Anis and Yudi failed to turn up.

Anis has been dragged into graft cases surrounding the PKS, after former PKS chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq allegedly told Yudi that he could convince Anis to grant a procurement proposal for a coffee seed project, if Yudi transferred Rp 1.9 billion to Luthfi through Fathanah, his close aide.

Anis, in a letter sent to the court, said that he was not able to testify due to conflicting schedules, while Yudi said that he was concerned about the fate of his family.

'€œI can'€™t testify due to safety concerns as my wife was detained by the police'€™s criminal unit on Feb. 26, 2013, for accepting Rp 50 million in a money laundering case,'€ he said, adding that his wife was detained in spite of her role as a whistleblower in the embezzlement case involving two banks in West Java in which Yudi had been named a suspect.

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