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ormer religious affairs minister Suryadharma Ali has apparently taken advantage of the Corruption Eradication Commission'€™s (KPK) conflict with the National Police by refusing for the second time to meet the commission'€™s summons to be questioned as a suspect in a haj fund scandal.

Last week he used a minor typographical error in the KPK letter as his pretext to skip questioning. On Tuesday, his lawyer, Andreas Nahot Silitonga, insisted the former chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) was too ill to meet with KPK investigators to complete his dossier.

Suryadaharma, said Andreas, had been hospitalized in a private hospital near the KPK office in Kuningan, South Jakarta, since Monday evening.

Andreas, who came to the KPK office to report his client'€™s absence, failed to show any medical documents or letters from doctors that could confirm Suryadharma'€™s illness. He also claimed that he did not yet know what kind of illness his client was suffering from.

'€œI want to let you know about some unfortunate news. Pak SDA [Suryadharma Ali] cannot come for questioning. I received information that he is currently receiving medical treatment in a hospital. Regarding the kind of illness he is suffering, as of today, I have not yet received information about it,'€ Andreas told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.

The KPK is facing a total paralysis, since its four commissioners were charged with criminal offences after it named Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan a bribery suspect on Jan. 13 at the eleventh hour of his expected inauguration as the National Police chief.

The KPK has failed to summons dozens of police generals and mid-ranking police officers, including Budi himself, to testify in the investigation of the police chief nominee.

Former energy and mineral resources minister Jero Wacik also refused to come to the KPK last week to be questioned as a suspect in a graft case.

The antigraft body usually issues a forced summons for graft suspects who reject KPK letters for the third time or for those who try to eliminate evidence and influence witnesses.

Meanwhile, Andreas claimed that he had requested that the KPK reschedule the questioning for his client, but failed to say whom he had met with at the KPK headquarters on Tuesday.

He further said that Suryadharma'€™s doctors would soon send a letter to the KPK, asking that KPK investigators reschedule his questioning. He added, '€œthe rescheduled questioning should take place after Suryadharma has fully recovered.'€

Suryadharma has been accused of rigging the 2012-2013 haj program, when he served as a minister from 2009 to 2014. His alleged offences of rigging a number of goods and services procurement projects resulted in more than Rp 1 trillion (US$79 million) in state losses, according to KPK'€™s preliminary estimation.

Separately, KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha lashed out at the lawyer for saying that he had talked to KPK officials regarding his client'€™s absence, emphasizing that Suryadharma'€™s decision not to show up on Tuesday was unacceptable.

He added that KPK investigators would issue another summons letter for Suryadharma. '€œWe will summons him again,'€ Priharsa said.