T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said on Friday that it would summon members of the House of Representatives accused of accepting bribes from graft suspect and former oil and gas regulator SKKMigas chief Rudi Rubiandini.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi said that the antigraft body was investigating the involvement of other parties who gave and accepted bribes in the case implicating Rudi, who has been charged with accepting a bribe from Singapore-based oil trader Kernel Oil in return for a guarantee to allocate various oil blocks.

'€œIf KPK investigators need answers from them, then of course they will be summoned,'€ Johan said.

Rudi told the Jakarta Corruption Court while testifying in the case of graft defendant Deviardi on Thursday that he had been pressed by the House'€™s Commission VII overseeing energy and mineral resources to pay Idul Fitri holiday bonuses in 2013, locally known as THR.

Because of the pressure, Rudi said that he gave US$200,000 to a commission member from the Democratic Party, Tri Yulianto.

Tri was reportedly ordered by fellow Democratic Party lawmaker Sutan Bhatoegana to take the money.

Some lawmakers from the commission, including Teuku Rifky of the Democratic Party and Dewi Aryani of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), have denied the allegations.

Deviardi'€™s lawyer Effendi Saman said that the Democratic Party was not the only party implicated in the case.

Deviardi said during the trial that he was told by Widodo Ratanachaitong, the president of Kernel Oil, that the oil tender recipient at SKKMigas would be chosen periodically from oil companies supported by the Democratic Party, the PDI-P and Golkar.

During the alleged conversation between Widodo and Deviardi, the former used the nickname of blue party, red party and yellow party to refer to the Democratic Party, the PDI-P and the Golkar Party respectively.

According to a dossier on Deviardi, the tender process within the House'€™s Commission VII was planned to be conducted by then SKKMigas financial management deputy Akhmad Syakhroza.

'€œIt'€™s just a coincidence that the one who communicated directly [with Rudi] was from the Democratic Party. We believed that there was not only one party involved because we looked back at the graft case happening in the House'€™s finance commission,'€ it said, referring to the bribery case implicating former senior deputy governor of Bank Indonesia Miranda S. Goeltom.

Miranda had been found guilty of distributing hundreds of traveler'€™s checks worth Rp 20.85 billion ($1.7 million) to lawmakers on the commission in order to swing their votes her way, through Nunun Nurbaeti, a businesswoman and wife of Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker and former National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. (ret.) Adang Daradjatun.

Twenty-eight lawmakers were convicted of accepting bribes in Miranda'€™s case. Nunun was also convicted after being on the run for months.

Besides the lawmakers at the House'€™s Commission VII, the first family has also been dragged into the SKKMigas.

According to the dossier, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono'€™s son, Edhie '€œIbas'€ Baskoro, is said to be close to Widodo. Ibas'€™ alleged involvement was revealed when judge Djoko Subagyo asked Deviardi about his conversation with Widodo.

In the dossier, Deviardi said that Widodo claimed to have close ties to people from the State Palace. '€œHe [Widodo] has seven oil companies, all based overseas. He has networks in the State Palace, the House of Representatives and with Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam,'€ Djoko said as he read the dossier.

Ibas has denied the allegations.