T

he trial of former NasDem Party secretary-general Patrice Rio Capella took a new twist on Monday as a witness revealed a scheme to bribe Attorney General M. Prasetyo, who is a former grandee of the pro-government party.

Rio is standing trial for his alleged role as a middleman to lobby Prasetyo, making use of his NasDem connection with the attorney general, to halt a corruption case surrounding social aid funds implicating suspended North Sumatra governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho at the Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO).

Rio allegedly received Rp 200 million for his services.

Testifying at the court on Monday, Rio'€™s aide Francisca Insani Rahesti, who also works at the legal firm of prominent lawyer and former NasDem senior executive OC Kaligis, disclosed that Gatot'€™s wife Evi Susanti had provided US$20,000 for Prasetyo in order to get his support in the scheme.

'€œAfter a meeting with Rio, Evi asked me to tell Rio that she had provided $20,000 for [Prasetyo], while Rio will also have his own part later,'€ Francisca told the panel of judges at the court in response to questions on whether money was allocated to Prasetyo in the scheme.

Francisca further said that Gatot, a Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician, sought help from Rio given his position as the active NasDem secretary-general at that time because he suspected the legal case implicating him was orchestrated by Gatot'€™s deputy, Tengku Erry Nuradi, who is also a NasDem member.

In order to ease the process at the AGO, Kaligis recommended that Gatot secure a political truce with Tengku.

'€œKaligis said that he was close to Pras [Prasetyo], but Kaligis said that [he] would let [me] handle talks with Rio. As I was not sure [who the man he called] Pras was, I confirmed it with [an official at Kaligis'€™ office] and I found that Pras was the attorney general,'€ Francisca said.

Despite Francisca'€™s revelation about the money for Prasetyo, the court failed to grill her on whether Gatot, Evi or Kaligis had eventually wired the money to Prasetyo.

In order to collect enough testimony to shed light on the case, the panel of judges also presented Evi to testify as a witness on Monday.

After questioning Francisca, presiding judge Artha Theresia moved to interrogate Evi to confirm whether she had bribed any other parties in the case apart from the Rp 200 million allegedly given to Rio.

Evi acknowledged that Gatot had wired Rp 300 million to Kaligis to be given to the AGO'€™s director of investigations Maruli Hutagalung. '€œ[Kaligis] knew details about it. He mentioned one name, which was Maruli,'€ Evi added.

The trial will resume next week. Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors, who indicted Rio with bribery last Monday, are set to present NasDem chairman Surya Paloh, who is the owner of the media group that runs MetroTV and the Media Indonesia daily. Gatot is also on the list of witnesses to be presented in the hearing next Monday.

Surya, who has been grilled by the KPK, was dragged into the case after KPK investigators found that he attended a meeting at the NasDem headquarters to discuss a political truce between Gatot and Tengku.

In addition to his attempt to halt the case at the AGO, Rio mediated the NasDem meeting to end the inharmonious relationship between Gatot and his deputy. Surya attended the meeting in his capacity as NasDem chairman.

Despite having been questioned, Surya remains a witness in the case.

If found guilty, Rio could face a maximum of 20 years behind bars as regulated by Article 12 of the 1999 Corruption Law on state officials accepting bribes while in office.

Prasetyo has denied any role in the case, adding that he had never met with anyone, including Rio, Surya, Gatot, Evi or Francisca, to discuss the social aid fund case.