The trial of former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Wednesday heard that he was still collecting kickbacks behind bars from companies he helped win government projects when he served as a lawmaker and party apparatchik in 2009.

One of the companies still paying '€œinstallments'€ of '€œsuccess fees'€ to Nazaruddin after he was sent to prison in 2011 is state builder PT Nindya Karya, which received two projects worth Rp 200 billion (US$14 million).

Nindya Karya general manager Heru Sulaksono, who testified on Wednesday, said that Nazaruddin had demanded 22 percent of the project'€™s contract value for helping the company, but it could only afford 10 percent, equal to Rp 17 billion, which had been partly paid before Nazaruddin was imprisoned.

'€œ[After serving time, he] kept asking the company to pay the remaining amount,'€ Heru said, adding that Nazaruddin had repeatedly sent associates to the company'€™s offices in Jakarta to collect the remaining commitment fees.

Nazaruddin was sentenced to seven years in prison after being found guilty in a bribery case in 2011. He is also currently standing trial in a money-laundering case, in which he is accused of embezzling and laundering a total of Rp 620 billion in commitment fees from dozens of companies between October 2010 and April 2011.

Heru said that Nindya Karya had received one construction project in Aceh and another at Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java.

In his position as treasurer of the ruling party, Nazaruddin had immense power to control projects funded by state money that needed approval from the House of Representatives budget committee.

The KPK has estimated that in about six months Nazaruddin collected Rp 40.3 billion in commitment fees in exchange for garnering approval for several state projects for companies including PT Duta Graha Indonesia and Nindya Karya.

To launder the ill-gotten cash, Nazaruddin, through a number of PT Permai Group subsidiaries, bought shares in national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia worth Rp 300 billion, in state-owned lender Bank Mandiri worth Rp 40 billion and in cigarette maker PT Gudang Garam worth Rp 7 billion.

Another witness, Muhammad Arief Taufikurahman, the marketing manager of another state construction company, PT Adhi Karya, said that Nazaruddin, through his confidant Mindo Rosalina Manulang, demanded the company pay a commitment fee of 22 percent of a hospital-construction project worth billions of rupiah in 2011.

'€œ[Nazaruddin] said that Rosa would handle the process,'€ Arief said.

Meanwhile, graft convict and fellow former Democrat lawmaker Angelina Sondakh also testified during Wednesday'€™s trial, incriminating Nazaruddin with her testimony.

Angelina, who is serving 10 years in prison in an unrelated bribery case, said that decisions on government projects take by the budget committee, on which Angelina served, had been dictated by Nazaruddin.

'€œNazaruddin said that all state projects linked to him would be handled by Rosa,'€ said Angelina, whose prison term was recently cut by the Supreme Court from 12 years to 10 after she won a case review against the KPK.

Angelina said that she had had no choice but to comply with Nazaruddin'€™s orders when serving as a committee member because the treasurer had the full backing of the Democratic Party.

Nazaruddin, Angeline claimed, had forced her to approve state funds for several projects worth Rp 100 billion at the Culture and Education Ministry, adding that in order to convince her, Nazaruddin had cited the names of former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum and then party secretary-general, Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, the youngest son of then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

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