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ormer vice president Jusuf Kalla testified in the graft trial of former Foreign Ministry secretary-general Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat on Wednesay.

In his testimony, Kalla defended Sudjadnan's actions saying that despite allegations of a number of irregularities, the implementation of international events at the Foreign Ministry between 2004 and 2005, which he oversaw, had helped improve the country's image on the world stage after the Aceh tsunami and the Bali bombing.

Kalla had been called as a defense witness for Sudjadnan, who has been accused of skimming Rp 4.5 billion (US$378,469) from 12 international conferences and meetings, which were held in Bali and Aceh, through budget markups and direct appointment.

'At that time, the number of tourists in Bali had dropped drastically. To regain trust, the government moved a number of international events to Bali to send the message that things had returned to normal,' Kalla said, adding that the irregularities in the implementation of the events were technicalities he had no knowledge of.

In relation to the Tsunami conference in 2005, Kalla said that the government had considered the event a success as $5 billion had been collected to help rebuild Aceh.

The summit was one of the 12 projects allegedly rigged by Sudjadnan.

Kalla said that the government had only given the ministry eight days to plan the summit.

'The 12 international events [were a platform for] other countries to help tackle terrorism [...] The most important aspect of all the events was the continuation of good relationships with other countries after the bombing and Tsunami,' Kalla said.

Asked by the presiding judge whether a portion of the money collected from rigging the project had been spent by the Foreign Ministry to pay for the release of an Indonesian hostage in Mindanao in the Philippines, Kalla declined to confirm.

'The government agreed to pay for the release of the hostage. To save a soul of an Indonesian citizen. The Foreign Ministry was in charge of the release, I don't know the source of the money,' Kalla said.

In previous trials, had been revealed that Sudjadnan had instructed ministry budget division heads I Gusti Putu Adnyana to cut Rp 40 million from each of the 12 international events. Later, the collected money was used by the ministry to pay for the release of the hostage.

So far, Sudjadnan is the only suspect in the case, but the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) emphasized that its investigation was not over.

'We will see if new evidence revealed in the trial could lead to other individuals,' KPK spokesman Johan Budi said.

Sudjadnan has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying that he was merely a victim in the case and that the committee handling the finances and logistics of the events was responsible.

This is not the first time Sudjadnan has stood trial for graft.

In January 2011, the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced Sudjadnan to one year and eight months in prison for his role in the markup of the renovation of the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore between 2003 and 2004.