Patrice Rio Capella (kompas.com)

Interrogators from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Friday interrogated former NasDem Party secretary general Patrice Rio Capella as a suspect in a bribery case involving lawyers and judges at the Medan State Administrative Court (PTUN) as well as officials in North Sumatra.

"I will be questioned as a suspect," Rio said, when he arrived at the KPK building, accompanied by his lawyer, Maqdir Ismail, as reported by Antara news agency on Friday.

Rio skipped the first KPK summons on Tuesday, arguing that he had filed a pretrial hearing with the South Jakarta District Court to challenge the suspect status imposed by the KPK.

Rio is accused of accepting Rp 200 million (US$14,706) from Evi Susanti, the wife of North Sumatra suspended governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho. The KPK had previously named Gatot and Evi as suspects in the same case.

Previously, Evi said that he had given the money to Rio through lawyer Fransisca Insani Rahesti, a friend that Rio met at university. Rio said he had returned the money to the KPK.

Speaking as a witness during a court hearing for graft suspect Tripeni Irianto Putro, who is also former PTUN Medan head, on Thursday, Gatot said the money was given to Rio as compensation so that Rio would talk to Attorney General HM Prasetyo about Gatot'€™s case.

The KPK named Gatot and Evi suspects in July. They were accused of being the financial backers of the bribery scheme, which was allegedly devised by prominent lawyer OC Kaligis, who had earlier been named a suspect in the case.

Gatot hired Kaligis for a petition registered at PTUN Medan to challenge the decision of the North Sumatra Prosecutor'€™s Office to issue a letter authorizing an investigation into Gatot'€™s office for allegedly misusing social aid funds. (erk/bbn)

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