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rosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Anis Matta continued to rebuff allegations he was also embroiled in the rigging of a government procurement project, which had implicated former party chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq.

During Luthfi'€™s trial on Thursday, the panel of judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court probed Anis about an alleged meeting he had with businessman Yudi Setiawan, during which a coffee seed procurement proposal at the Agriculture Ministry was discussed.

Anis denied that he knew Yudi personally and was only aware of him '€œfrom the media'€.

In 2012, Luthfi'€™s aide Ahmad Fathanah allegedly told Yudi he could convince Anis to give the coffee procurement project the go-ahead if Yudi transferred Rp 1.9 billion (US$169,100) to Anis.

Last month, Yudi testified that he had often spoken with Anis about the securing of various procurement projects at the ministry.

He also said that Anis had demanded 1 percent from the projects'€™ budgets as a '€œfee'€ for his service.

Yudi allegedly paid a total of Rp 8.82 billion to Anis '€” through Fathanah '€” to help his company secure various projects at the Agricultural Ministry in 2012.

Yudi also testified he had transferred US$30,000 to Anis through Fathanah.

'€œ[It was] Fathanah'€™s request, he said Anis'€™ bank account was empty,'€ he said in court.

Yudi said the transfer had been approved by Luthfi.

'€œI asked Fathanah about it, he said Luthfi had already agreed [to it],'€ he said.

When asked about the kickbacks, Anis said he had not received a dime from Yudi and he had known nothing about the projects.

Anis denied the allegation that he had demanded 1 percent as kickbacks.

'€œI know nothing about the projects because they were none of my business,'€ he told reporters on the sidelines of the trial.

Besides paying Anis and other PKS heavyweights, Yudi also allegedly agreed to help the party raise Rp 2 trillion to fund its 2014 general election campaign.

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 the Communications and Information Ministry.

Anis, in response to the allegations, said he could not verify it.

'€œI know nothing about the money [to fund the party'€™s campaign],'€ he said.

Besides Anis, other witnesses, including Fathanah, were also on trial on Thursday.

During Fathanah'€™s trial he broke down in tears when Luthfi asked him to confirm some of the allegations made against the former party chairman.

Fathanah said Luthfi had not respond much to his business proposals.

Speaking after, Fathanah said that he had weeped because he felt sorry for Luthfi, who he had spent time with while studying at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in the 1980s.

'€œPity him [Luthfi],'€ he said, adding that he felt guilty for dragging Luthfi into the whole affair.

Fathanah said that Luthfi had not coerced him into giving a false testimony to protect him and that Luthfi had never scolded him.