W

hen former National Police Traffic Corps (Korlantas) chief Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo hatched his plan to marry his second and third wives, he expected it to be the safest way to hide his allegedly ill-gotten gains.

And Djoko stuck to his guns earlier this week, when he angrily refused to have his younger wives appear at the Jakarta Corruption Court to testify in his graft trial.

In a hearing on Tuesday, Djoko insisted that his wives should not be present in court and that his marriages were his private business.

He said he was afraid his wives would be put under too much psychological pressure if they were to testify in court, his lawyer, Teuku Nasrullah, said.

During Tuesday'€™s trial session, Djoko also objected to the Corruption Eradication Commission'€™s (KPK) prosecutors summoning Husem Hidayat, an official with the Grogol Religious Affairs Office in Sukoharjo, Surakarta, Central Java, who registered the marriage between the then 48-year-old Djoko and teen pageant queen Dipta Anindita back in 2008, when she was only 19.

'€œThe defendant has confirmed that Dipta is his wife, so there is no need [to ask the official],'€ Juniver said.

But the KPK countered that even without the presence of his wives, the commission would have no problem finding evidence to support allegations that Djoko'€™s assets were obtained through illicit means.

The absence of Djoko'€™s wives, in fact, made it easier for the antigraft body'€™s prosecutors to do their job, KPK commissioner Bambang Widjojanto said on Friday.

'€œIt will ease the KPK'€™s work. If they fail to attend court, they will pass up their right to give testimony, and we can stick to their statements in the case file,'€ he said at a press conference.

Bambang said that KPK prosecutors could impose a reverse burden of proof in court, including by using testimony from relevant parties, such as the notaries who helped to manage Djoko'€™s assets.

'€œWe will summon other parties who can confirm the movements of his assets. Their testimony can be used as evidence, so the KPK will have no difficulties,'€ Bambang said.

The Jakarta Corruption Court rejected Djoko'€™s plea and will summon Husem to court to testify on the legality of Djoko'€™s marriage to Dipta. If legality is confirmed, prosecutors will likely examine her relationship to the money-laundering charges leveled at Djoko.

Besides probing Djoko'€™s marriage to Dipta, the court has also been digging into his marriages to his first wife, Suratmi, and second wife Mahdiana.

Djoko has three children with Suratmi, whom he married in 1985. He has another two children with his second wife, Mahdiana, whom he married in 2001.

Djoko accumulated Rp 43 billion (US$4.3 million) in assets between 2010 and 2012, using the names of his relatives including his three wives and two children, Eva Susilo Handayani and Poppy Femialya.

Dipta, for example, was given a house by Djoko with the hefty price tag of Rp 14.45 billion, located on Jl. Prapanca in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, within the first month of their marriage.

Besides that, Djoko also bought her at least four other houses in Jakarta, Semarang and Depok, worth a total of Rp 17.75 billion.

Djoko stands accused of embezzling Rp 32 billion from the Rp 200 billion project to procure driving simulators while he headed up Korlantas.

According to prosecutors, he inflated the procurement budget from Rp 98 billion to Rp 200 billion.