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leading member of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has accused President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of lying with regard to Bunda Putri, a hitherto little-known woman said to have played a role in the beef import graft case.

The President claimed late on Thursday that no State Palace officials or member of his family knew Bunda Putri. '€œ[My] family does not know Bunda Putri,'€ he said. To further emphasize his point, he said that he had spent more than 30 minutes contacting his family members one by one to confirm the matter.

Yudhoyono also said that there was no phone call, mail, text message or meeting between Bunda Putri and his family. '€œIf someone wants to meet, send a letter or call the President, he must go through a system,'€ he said. '€œMy personal assistant would have known [if Bunda Putri ever contacted me]. But 100 percent, nobody knows,'€ he said.

The President made the statement only hours after former PKS leader and graft suspect Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq told the Jakarta Corruption Court that Bunda was no stranger to Yudhoyono.

'€œBunda Putri is very close to SBY and she knows about the [Cabinet] reshuffle,'€ he told the panel of judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

PKS deputy secretary general Fahri Hamzah, meanwhile, said on Friday that Yudhoyono was pretending not to know Bunda Putri. '€œHe knows her. Yudhoyono is just playing dumb. Anyone who met Luthfi using Yudhoyono'€™s name would have been checked out [first by Luthfi],'€ he said.

The President has been involved in a series of squabbles over various issues with the Islamic-based party, which has three of its top politicians in Yudhoyono'€™s Cabinet. The President has opted not to fire them despite the PKS'€™ animosity.

Bunda Putri is reportedly an alias for Non Saputri, the wife of the Agriculture Ministry'€™s horticulture director general, Hasanuddin Ibrahim. She reportedly has close ties to high-ranking officials and able to pull strings in the government.

When asked whether Bunda Putri was Non Saputri, Luthfi told the judges that he did not know.

Bunda Putri was first mentioned by PKS chief patron Hilmi Aminuddin'€™s son, Ridwan Hakim, who claimed that he only knew her as a businesswoman and that she acted as his mentor.

Agriculture Minister Suswono, a senior PKS member, then revealed that he once met Bunda Putri during an event in 2010 or 2011 in West Kalimantan that was also attended by Yudhoyono, further fueling speculation that she was a close friend of the President.

Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said that the President needed to respond to Luthfi'€™s allegation because he claimed that Bunda Putri had a say in a planned Cabinet reshuffle, which the President strongly denied.

Yudhoyono'€™s rapid denial is change from when a member of his close circle, Sengman Tjahja, was dragged into the beef scandal. Sengman'€™s role in the case was revealed in a wiretapped phone conversation between Ridwan and the main suspect in the case, Ahmad Fathanah.

During the conversation, Fathanah told Ridwan that Rp 40 billion (US$3.6 million) in kickbacks had been delivered by Sengman and his friend, Hendra. Ridwan then testified that Sengman was an '€œenvoy'€ from Yudhoyono to the PKS.

Democratic Party officials quickly denied that the President had an '€œenvoy'€ named Sengman and that whatever he (Sengman) had done, had nothing to do with the President, the President however would not say whether he knew Sengman.

Almost a week after the allegations surfaced, the President, through Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto, finally admitted that he knew Sengman and that he attended the wedding of Sengman'€™s daughter in 2008.

Commenting on the matter, outspoken Democratic Politician Ruhut Sitompul said that Luthfi was trying to attack the President by linking Bunda to him. '€œIt'€™s like Luthfi is falling off a cliff and trying to drag everyone with him,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.