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ohannes Marliem’s name made headlines in August last year following his dramatic death in his luxury home in Los Angeles, in the United States, following a stand-off with local police. The death of a relatively unknown Indonesian citizen became big news when it was confirmed that he was a key witness in the massive e-ID graft case that was rocking the country’s political elite.

Marliem, who spent most of his time doing business in the US, was president director of PT Biomorf Lone LLC, the provider of an automated fingerprint identification system that was chosen by the government for the mega e-ID card project.

Marliem reportedly possessed key evidence regarding the alleged involvement of several politicians, including former House of Representatives speaker Setya Novanto, who is currently on trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court, and other politicians implicated in the graft case, which caused state losses of Rp 2.3 trillion (US$161 million).

Despite his death, Marliem’s knowledge of matters related to the case still provided an important piece of the puzzle for KPK prosecutors investigating alleged wrongdoing.

During a recent hearing in Setya’s trial the court heard recordings of Marliem discussing aspects of the case.

A recording of a phone call made in 2013 between Marliem and businessman Anang Sugiana Sudihardjo, another suspect in the e-ID case, made mention of an official at the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) connected to Setya having been assigned to “secure” the audit work for the project.

In an audit report by the BPK in 2013 on the project, it found the project had been marred by inefficiencies that led to state losses amounting to around Rp 370 billion.

When prosecutors confronted Anang in the hearing, he testified that Setya’s inside man “would help businesspeople involved in the e-ID project avoid being blamed for any wrongdoings occurred.”

Another recording of questioning by US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Jonathan Holden of Marliem in August 2017 also revealed that the late businessman wired money through several money changers in Indonesia.

The money was allegedly collected by Setya’s nephew and businessman Irvanto Hendra Pambudi to be given to the embattled politician. The KPK named Irvanto the latest suspect in the case last week.

“I received an order to wire the money here and there […] some of it was transferred to money changers whose name I don’t remember,” Marliem said in the recording.

Setya himself could be heard in one of the recordings alongside Marliem and Andi Agustinus, aka Andi Narogong — a businessman regarded as Setya’s right-hand in the case, and who has already been found guilty of graft in the case — as the politician expressed his fear of being probed by the KPK.

“I told you not to get my name in the case. This time my name has been used here and there. […] If I’m pursued by the KPK, it will cost me Rp 20 billion,” says a man believed to be Setya in a
recording.

Setya confirmed to the court that it was his voice and that the conversation had taken place at his home.

Marliem reportedly provided 500 gigabytes of recordings of conversations he had with a number of individuals implicated in the graft case to top KPK officials during a questioning session with the FBI.

The antigraft body had obtained the recordings as a result of cooperation between the two institutions.

Marliem’s recordings are believed to have played a key role in the KPK’s move to rename Setya a suspect after he dodged prosecution through a pretrial challenge last year.

During a hearing in Andi’s trial, he confirmed the information cited in one of Marliem’s recordings that the two of them had given a luxury watch to Setya as a token of gratitude for his alleged role in arranging the budget for the e-ID procurement in the House.