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n an about face, Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD reported Democratic Party lawmaker Muhammad Nazaruddin to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Tuesday for allegedly trying to give a court official gratuities.

KPK deputy chair Mochammad Jasin said Mahfud had a meeting with the commission’s leaders to inform them about the lawmaker’s alleged malfeasance.

Mahfud had said earlier that he did not intend to report the case to the KPK following a joint press conference with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono where he revealed that Nazaruddin had attempted to give “friendly money” in the amount of S$120,000 (US$96,900) to his secretary Janedjri M. Gaffar.

Mahfud said it was unclear why Nazaruddin gave the money in September of 2010. The money was returned to Nazaruddin through his security guard, therefore Mahfud did not consider what the lawmaker did a crime.

Nazaruddin refuted the allegations and threatened to take legal action against Mahfud.

The KPK said it would process his report. “As law enforcement, we do not simply admit such information. We will study whether there was a gratuity, bribe or nothing,” Jasin said, adding that during the meeting he did not see any receipt for the money retuned to Nazaruddin, which Mahfud claimed to have as evidence.

According to Jasin, both court officials provided a chronology of the incident until they returned the money to Nazaruddin.

“They also explained that Nazaruddin told Janedjri that the money was for their friendship, just like what Mahfud once told the President,” he said.

Nazaruddin was officially dismissed from his post as Democratic Party treasurer by the party’s ethics council on Monday night following the surfacing of several graft allegations that threatened to damage the party’s reputation.

Apart from the alleged gratuity case, the lawmaker is also implicated in a high-profile corruption case centered on the construction of Southeast Asia Games facilities in Palembang, South Sumatra.

Disappointed by the ruling, Nazaruddin threatened to uncover other party members’ wrongdoings in the wake of his dismissal.

The Democratic Party said the lawmaker was only bluffing. “If he has legal facts and evidence, [he should] go ahead. We want the party to be clean. But don’t damage other people’s reputations,” party spokesman Ruhut Sitompul said.

Democratic Party ethics council member Amir Syamsuddin said Tuesday that he would let Nazaruddin prove to the public what he had said about revealing wrongdoings committed by other party members. “I don’t want to give him a stage, but he started this so he is the one who has to prove to the public what he said, otherwise the public will call him a liar,” Amir told The Jakarta Post.

Nazaruddin told reporters on Tuesday morning that he would hold a press conference and provide all the details later that day at the House, but he never showed up. He did not return calls from the Post for comment on Tuesday.

“If he can prove even just 10 percent of his allegations, I would thank him,” Amir said. (swd)