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North Sumatra governor, wife grilled in graft probe
Extending support: Television soap opera actor Velove Vexia, the daughter of senior lawyer and current graft suspect OC Kaligis, stands in line before being allowed by the Corruption Eradication Commissionâs (KPK) security guards to pay a visit to her father, who has been detained over the past week at the KPK detention center in Guntur, South Jakarta
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Extending support: Television soap opera actor Velove Vexia, the daughter of senior lawyer and current graft suspect OC Kaligis, stands in line before being allowed by the Corruption Eradication Commissionâs (KPK) security guards to pay a visit to her father, who has been detained over the past week at the KPK detention center in Guntur, South Jakarta.(JP/DON) (KPK) security guards to pay a visit to her father, who has been detained over the past week at the KPK detention center in Guntur, South Jakarta.(JP/DON)
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span class="inline inline-center">Extending support: Television soap opera actor Velove Vexia, the daughter of senior lawyer and current graft suspect OC Kaligis, stands in line before being allowed by the Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK) security guards to pay a visit to her father, who has been detained over the past week at the KPK detention center in Guntur, South Jakarta.(JP/DON)
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) questioned on Monday North Sumatra Governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho, a Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician, for a second time in relation to his alleged role as financial backer in a scheme to bribe three judges in Medan.
Gatot, along with his wife Evi Susanti, turned up for questioning after failing to meet a KPK summons scheduled for Friday last week.
They continue to be classed as witnesses in the case but speculation is rife that they will soon be named suspects after it was revealed that the US$18,000 that prominent lawyer OC Kaligis allegedly used to bribe the three judges reportedly came from Gatot.
Gatot's lawyer has denied that the money that Evi gave to Kaligis' legal firm, which handled a legal case related to the North Sumatra administration at the Medan State Administrative Court (PTUN), was bribe money, but rather legal fees.
The lawyers also insisted that the governor did not know anything about what the money was used for after the handover.
KPK investigators have arrested PTUN Medan head Tripeni Irianto Putro and two other judges Amir Fauzi and Dermawan Ginting for accepting bribes from Yagari 'Gerry' Bhastara Guntur, an aide to Kaligis, for their alleged role in a corruption case involving the North Sumatra administration.
Gerry, the judges and Kaligis have been named bribery suspects and have been held at KPK detention centers. The KPK has accused Kaligis of devising the bribery scheme.
Gatot and Evi did not make any comments to reporters when they arrived at the KPK headquarters for questioning. KPK investigators had not wrapped up their questioning as of 9 p.m. on Monday night.
Gatot's lawyer Razman Arief Nasution said that his client and Evi had nothing to do with the bribery case. 'They told me that they have no connection to the case,' the lawyer said.
Razman added that he had asked KPK investigators to reschedule a questioning session for Evi's driver Taufik, who, the KPK claimed, had knowledge of the bribery scheme. 'We've asked the KPK to question him on Wednesday at 10 a.m.,' Razman said.
Meanwhile, on Monday Kaligis' team of lawyers filed a pretrial petition with the South Jakarta District Court challenging the KPK's handling of the case, which it claimed was 'marred by irregularities'.
Kaligis' legal counsel Johnson Panjaitan said that there were around 150 lawyers who would help Kaligis with his pretrial motion against the KPK.
Johnson further said that the pretrial proposal would try to convince the panel of judges at the court that the KPK had committed violations in its decision to name Kaligis a suspect as well as its decision to detain him without prior questioning.
Separately, Gerry's lawyer Haeruddin Masarro said that his client had told KPK investigators that it was Kaligis who ordered the payment of the bribe, adding that the judges had also confessed to KPK investigators that they had received bribes on two occasions from Kaligis prior to the arrests in Medan.
Haeruddin, who is also Gerry's uncle, said that during his questioning on Friday, Gerry told investigators that Kaligis had asked his colleague to delete data belonging to the firm as soon as he heard that Gerry had been arrested.
Gerry also alleged that last Friday Kaligis had asked the former to become the scapegoat in the case to limit damage to the law firm.
According to Haeruddin, Gerry said that Kaligis had offered him money if he would take all the blame. However, Gerry refused as he knew that the KPK had sufficient evidence against them all.
'Gerry just told [Kaligis] 'how can I sacrifice myself? [The KPK] already have recordings. It is impossible',' he said.
