South Tangerang Mayor Airin Rachmi Diany, the wife of graft suspect Tubagus Chaeri Wardana and sister-in-law of Banten Governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah, has declined to comment on the bribery scandal implicating her family.

During a visit to her husband'€™s detention cell at the KPK'€™s headquarters in Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Thursday, Airin remained tight-lipped over her husband'€™s involvement in the case.

'€œPlease ask the lawyers or [KPK] investigators. I respect the legal process. Let'€™s follow the legal process together,'€ she said, responding to reporters'€™ questions.

Airin also refused to comment about a rumor saying it was Ratu Atut who instructed Tubagus to bribe former Constitutional Court chief justice Akil Mochtar via a lawyer, Susi Tur Andayani.

Tubagus has been accused of paying Rp 1 billion (US$87,000) in bribes to Akil for a ruling in favor of Lebak Deputy Regent Amir Hamzah, who had challenged the result of the Lebak election in the court.

Amir lost the election to Iti Octavia, who also comes from a prominent political family in the province.

Tubagus, like Ratu Atut, is a member of the Golkar Party, which supported Amir Hamzah'€™s candidacy.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi said that Ratu Atut, who has been slapped with a travel ban, would be questioned on Friday.

Johan declined to confirm if Akil had met with Ratu Atut in Singapore in late-September.

Akil'€™s lawyer, Otto Hasibuan, confirmed that his client had recently visited Singapore.

Otto added, however, that Akil had gone to Singapore to seek medical treatment.

'€œHe had a problem with his back,'€ Otto told The Jakarta Post.

Akil is now facing money-laundering charges, as the KPK has compiled enough evidence that he laundered the bribe money he accepted during his tenure as chief justice, a source within the KPK said on Thursday.

Johan said the KPK had also frozen all of Akil'€™s bank accounts.

KPK investigators confiscated on Tuesday three luxury cars '€” a Mercedes Benz S350, an Audi Quattro 5 and a Toyota Crown Athlete '€” from Akil'€™s home in Pancoran. Besides the cars, the KPK also seized bonds worth Rp 2 billion ($174,000).

Johan said investigators had found that Akil had registered one of his cars, the Mercedes Benz, in the name of his driver, Daryono.

Daryono, along with Akil'€™s wife, Ratu Rita Akil, had six-month travel bans imposed on them on Wednesday.

Daryono is believed to be within Akil'€™s inner circle and, as such, is a key witness in the bribery case.

He failed, however, to respond to a KPK summons for questioning on Monday, and he did not appear at Constitutional Court ethics hearings on Monday and Tuesday.

Johan, meanwhile, said the KPK had no plan at the moment to summon Daryono again.

Sources within the KPK have said that Akil is believed to have laundered up to Rp 300 billion by transferring the money to his company in Pontianak, West Kalimantan. The KPK has also discovered that Susi, one of the suspects in the Lebak regency dispute, had transferred various sums of money to Akil'€™s company in Pontianak.

Otto maintained that his client was innocent.

'€œAccording to Pak Akil, no money was transferred [to his company in Pontianak]. There'€™s no such money trail,'€ he said.

Otto also criticized the KPK for confiscating Akil'€™s cars and freezing his bank accounts, saying the measures were not consistent with the bribery charges leveled against his client.

Johan, however, said the commission had the authority to freeze a graft suspect'€™s bank accounts whether or not they were charged with money laundering.

Popular

The erosion of civil supremacy: A quiet shift in Indonesia’s statecraft

May was world's second-hottest on record, EU scientists say

Holidays sustain consumer spending post-Ramadan