P

eople'€™s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Zulkifli Hasan verbally attacked a graft defendant, palm oil businessman Gulat Manurung, inside a courtroom at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday, a lawyer confirms.

Gulat'€™s lawyer, Jimmy Stephanus Mboey, reported the incident to the panel of judges at the court after Zulkifli finished giving testimony as a witness in his client'€™s hearing.

'€œAfter the hearing Zulkifli Hasan uttered sentences that are not supposed to be spoken in this respected hearing. His action incited laughter from court attendees. I hope that no more such incidents happen in the future,'€ Jimmy told the judicial panel.

'€œWhen Zulkifli shook hands with my client, he told him, '€˜Your actions caused trouble to everyone'€™. Such utterances should not be spoken inside the courtroom; not to mention that he is now the MPR speaker. I don'€™t accept this. My client is still a defendant and has not yet been declared guilty. Even a convict deserves to be respected,'€ Jimmy added.

Jimmy also told the panel that prior to the hearing, someone, whose identity he could not determine, screamed at Gulat inside the court'€™s waiting room.

'€œI hope officers at the court could give better protection to defendants in the future,'€ Jimmy said.

In addition to Monday'€™s hearing, Zulkifli, of the National Mandate Party (PAN), was grilled in his capacity as former forestry minister during the 2009 to 2014 period under former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono'€™s administration for allegedly issuing a land conversion permit to Gulat, who bribed Riau Governor Annas Ma'€™mun to obtain the permit. The KPK is currently completing Annas'€™ dossier in the case.

KPK prosecutors charged Gulat with paying Annas US$166,100 following the issuance of a ministerial decree by Zulkifli in August that enabled the Riau administration to convert a forested area measuring 1,638,249 hectares into
a non-forest area.

Gulat colluded with Annas to include his 1,188 hectares of land in Kuantan Singingi regency and 1,214 hectares in Rokan Hilir regency to be included in the total area approved by the ministry, as a result of the bribe money.

Zulkifli maintained innocence in the case by saying that Kuantan Senggigi regency was not included in the revised proposal submitted by the Riau administration in August.

'€œNo there is no [Kuantan Senggigi],'€ he said at the court.

Zulkifli confirmed that after the issuance of the ministerial decree he received Annas at his official house in Jakarta. However, he did not directly answer prosecutors'€™ questions about whether during the meeting they discussed the revised proposal submitted by Annas in August.

'€œThe meeting was very short. It was just around three to five minutes,'€ Zulkifli said.