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digital forensic expert from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Joko Sarwono, confirmed Thursday the authenticity of the Corruption Eradication Commission'€™s (KPK) wiretapped conversations of graft and money-laundering suspect, former Constitutional Court chief justice Akil Mochtar.

Testifying at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Thursday, Joko said that his examination of a number of conversations recorded by the KPK as part of its investigation into Akil found the voice in the recording matched that of Akil.

'€œI used a number of approaches in the forensic investigation and one of the voices in the wiretapped conversations was 90 percent identical to that of Akil,'€ Joko said.

Akil, who was arrested red-handed accepting a bribe in October last year, is currently standing trial for acquiring Rp 57 billion (US$4.94 million) from adjudicating on 10 election disputes, and for laundering a total of Rp 160 billion during his tenure at the court and Rp 20 billion when he was a lawmaker in the House of Representatives (DPR).

The notorious case has implicated a number of senior officials, lawmakers, lawyers and businesspeople who acted as middlemen, including suspended Banten governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah and her brother, Tubagus Chaeri '€œWawan'€ Wardana, a businesspeople in Banten, Golkar Party politician Chairun Nisa and lawyer Susi Tur Andayani. All of them face prosecution in separate trials.

Joko confirmed that the other voices in the wiretapped conversations belonged to Susi, Wawan, Wawan'€™s confidant, Alming, former Lebak regent Amir Hamzah and deputy regent candidate Kasmin.

Responding to Joko'€™s testimony, Akil insisted that it was not him speaking in the recorded wiretaps, saying the recordings were '€œfake'€.

'€œNowadays, people can easily manipulate voices in a recording for only Rp 3,000 [20 US cents],'€ Akil said.

Akil'€™s lawyer backed his client by questioning the methods that Joko had used in his examination.

'€œCan the expert prove scientifically that the wiretapped conversations are original, and not something that has been manipulated?'€ Akil'€™s lawyer, Adardam Achyar, said.

During the trial hearing on Thursday, Akil also appealed to KPK prosecutors to present Constitutional Court justices Maria Farida Indrawati and Anwar Usman, although they have both previously testified on the case during Wawan'€™s trial.

Maria and Anwar worked on the same panel as Akil when he judged a number of election disputes at the court.

The KPK prosecutors agreed to Akil'€™s request. '€œWe will get in touch with them, but we cannot guarantee that they will testify [as both have previously testified in the case],'€ one of the KPK prosecutors, Ronald, said.