T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Wednesday grilled Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle'€™s (PDI-P) secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto amid revelations that a former PDI-P lawmaker had asked for money from a businessman to fund the party'€™s national congress in Bali in April.

KPK investigators questioned Hasto in his capacity as a witness for Adriyansah, a PDI-P politician who was nabbed by KPK investigators accepting bribes from businessman Andrew Hidayat on the sidelines of the party'€™s national congress in Bali, where President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo and party chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri were present.

A witness during the trial of Andrew at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday confirmed that the Rp 500 million bribe money from Andrew was intended to be funneled to the congress.

KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha confirmed the questioning of Hasto on Wednesday, saying that KPK investigators needed to collect testimony from the politician to complete the dossiers on Adriyansah.

'€œHe was questioned in his capacity as a witness in the case,'€ Priharsa said on Wednesday, adding that he had yet to speak to KPK investigators on what kind of information they wanted to dig out of Hasto.

After the questioning, Hasto said that it was impossible that the party had instructed Adriyansah to collect funds for the congress because one month before it was held, the congress committee agreed that it needed no more additional funds from PDI-P members.

'€œBefore the congress, the party emphasized that we no longer received funds from members for the congress,'€ Hasto told reporters at the KPK headquarters on Wednesday.

Hasto said further that it was normal that the KPK asked him to give testimony as a witness in the case given his status as the PDI-P secretary-general who knew well about the congress.

'€œKPK investigators did not ask me about it [about the connection between the bribe money and the congress]. The revelation was made by Adriyansah'€™s lawyer [in public],'€ Hasto added.

The revelation about the connection between the confiscated money and the PDI-P congress in Bali was first revealed by Andrew'€™s lawyer Bambang Hartono at the Jakarta Corruption Court on June 29, when KPK prosecutors indicted the businessman in the case.

Bambang revealed that the money that the KPK confiscated in Bali was related to the PDI-P congress.

'€œThe money was about to be given to the congress committee, but to no avail because [Adriansyah] was already arrested in the first place,'€ Bambang said.

Bambang'€™s statement was later confirmed by the president director of PT Indo Mineral, Suparta a.k.a Keta, during the trial of Andrew on Monday. Keta said that prior to the arrest of Andrew and Adriansyah in Bali, Andrew told him that the politician had asked him for money to help fund the party congress.

'€œBefore the arrest I was told that the money was for the PDI-P congress in Bali,'€ Keta told the court on Monday.

Hasto said that the congress was funded through contributions made by all party members.

However, when asked whether Adriyansah had contributed financially to the congress given his status as a party member, Hasto said that he had not '€œbecause he was not a party regional chapter head at that time.'€

'€œDuring the questioning there was no question about to whom the money was intended. It might be that [Adriyansah] wanted to use it for shopping because you know Bali is a tourism island and that is something unrelated to the PDI-P,'€ Hasto went on.

Hasto said that following the arrest, the PDI-P had swiftly moved to revoke Adriyansah'€™s party membership due to his offence of tarnishing the image of the party.

KPK prosecutors have indicted Andrew for bribery, accusing him of paying multiple bribes, including the US$50,000 confiscated in Bali, to secure a mining permit in Tanah Laut regency, South Kalimantan.

Adriansyah, before being elected as a lawmaker in 2014, was regent of the resource-rich Tanah Laut between 2003 and 2013.