Lawyers for tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim testified Thursday at the Corruption Court they had been ordered by their client to draft an excuse to allow him to defy a summons for questioning about his alleged role in a state loan scandal.

Lawyers Maqdir Ismail and Eri Hertiawan told the court their client claimed he was too sick to attend the questioning at the Attorney General's Office (AGO), and asked them to make and sign an excuse letter.

"On Jan. 15, 2008, Sjamsul called me to answer AGO summons, saying he was sick," Maqdir said at the bribery trial of state prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan.

Urip, who led an AGO team to probe the embezzlement of Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) funds, is charged with receiving a US$660,000 bribe from businesswoman Artalyta Suryani.

Artalyta, who was sentenced to five years in prison in the bribery case, admitted to having a close relationship with Sjamsul.

Urip is accused by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) of holding back two AGO summonses for Sjamsul and of advising Artalyta to reply to the third one with an excuse letter from the tycoon on Jan. 8, 2008.

Maqdir and Eri previously admitted the excuse letter was produced without any medical record explaining Sjamsul's illness.

"As his advocate, I trusted him because the last time I met him, in 2001, he was undergoing treatment for his heart condition in Singapore," Maqdir said, adding Sjamsul had since remained abroad.

Sjamsul, former owner of the now defunct Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia, was accused of embezzling Rp 28.4 trillion in BLBI funds.

The AGO began investigating him after discovering a huge decrease in the value of assets handed over to the state by Sjamsul to pay off his debts, after the government sold the assets to other parties.

Sjamsul, who also owned Gajah Tunggal Group, handed over three of his companies to repay Rp 28.4 trillion in debts to the government, but the companies were later sold for a mere Rp 4.9 trillion.

The BLBI probe was dropped on Feb. 29, 2008, with the AGO citing a lack of evidence. Two days later, Artalyta paid Urip off at her house, and the two were arrested shortly thereafter.

Alex Suwarna, Urip's subordinate on the BLBI investigation team, told the court Sjamsul was the only one of 37 witnesses in the investigation who had never been questioned.

Urip is also charged with extorting Rp 1 billion from Glenn Yusuf, former head of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency and a witness in the BLBI investigation.

The KPK alleges Urip threatened to name Glenn as a suspect in the BLBI scandal if he refused to pay.

Presiding judge Teguh Hariyanto adjourned the trial until next Thursday to hear testimony from more witnesses.

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