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Ahok says he knew nothing about staffer's phone call with Sanusi
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Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama (center) and his special aide Sunny Tanuwidjaja (right) testify in a case against corruption defendant and former president director of property giant Agung Podomoro Land Ariesman Widjaja in the Jakarta Corruption Court, on Monday. (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
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akarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has stressed that he knew nothing about a telephone conversation his special aide Sunny Tanuwidjaja had with graft suspect Muhammad Sanusi, who has been accused of accepting a bribe from property developer PT Agung Podomoro Land (APL).
"I don't know Sunny had that [conservation]. When I heard the tapped phone conversation, Sunny sounded very close with Sanusi," Ahok said at City Hall on Tuesday.
On Monday, Sunny and Ahok gave their testimonies in a court hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court as witnesses to the case of graft suspect Ariesman Widjaja, who was accused of bribing Sanusi.
(Read also : Ahok feels he is often cornered by his subordinates)
When Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutor Nurul Widiasih asked Sunny about the content of the conversation, he claimed that he did not really understand what Sanusi was talking about it.
“Sanusi talked in ‘code’ words that I didn’t understand. However, I didn’t want to cut him off in the phone call,” Sunny said.
Previously, in the phone conversation recording played during the hearing, Sunny was heard talking about reclamation draft bills with Sanusi. He asked Sanusi why the councilors kept postponing the deliberation of the draft bills.
The bribery case is allegedly related to efforts by APL to reduce the obligations of reclamation developers to the Jakarta Administration, particularly the additional contribution that was expected to be regulated in the bills. Deliberation was postponed after Sanusi’s arrest on March 31.
Sunny also was heard asking Sanusi whether he had reported the issue of the draft bills’ deliberation to PT Kapuk Naga Indah (KNI) director Budi Noerwono. In the reclamation project, KNI has the rights to develop Islets A to E. (bbn)
