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In her first public appearance since being implicated in a graft scandal, Angelina Sondakh renounced all suggestions of her involvement, including retracting earlier statements she made to the Corruption Eradication Commission.

According to the antigraft body’s investigation document, Angelina, a lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party, communicated through BlackBerry Messenger with another suspect, Mindo Rosalina Manulang, asking for bribe money in exchange for rigging a tender linked to the construction of the athletes’ village for last year’s Southeast Asian Games.

But testifying at the trial of another Democrat, Muhammad Nazaruddin, on Wednesday, Angelina said she only acquired the smartphone in late 2010, which was after the supposed conversation took place on May 15.

“I never [communicated via BlackBerry] with Rosa, your honor,” she told the court.

Presiding Judge Dharmawati Ningsih immediately consulted Angelina’s witness examination document (BAP) prepared by the antigraft body known as the KPK and signed by Angelina.

“If you say you never communicated with Rosa, then why did you sign this BAP?” the judge asked. Angelina replied that she was not the owner of the BlackBerry used to communicate with Rosalina.

KPK prosecutor I Kadek Wiradana said that through the BlackBerry conversation, Angelina requested Rosalina provide bribe money to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker I Wayan Koster.

“I will provide US$50,000 to Bali. Washington Apple. Okay,” Kadek said was the text of the BlackBerry message from Rosalina to Angelina.

Angelina allegedly replied: “It’s better than nothing. That will keep him quiet.”

Koster is Balinese, while some have speculated that the term “Washington Apples” refers to US dollar bills and “Malang Apples” refers to rupiah notes.

Unconvinced by Angelina’s testimony, Nazaruddin’s lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, requested the court examine Angelina and Rosalina together.

Hotman said both women had communicated with each other prior to the May 2010 conversation. Rosalina, he said, often received invitations from Angelina’s BlackBerry, including one to attend her son’s birthday.

“Are you saying you didn’t send [the invitation]? Who sent this? Is it possible that a ghost sent [the invitation]?” the lawyer asked Rosalina.

Rosalina, a director in Permai Group, one of Nazaruddin’s companies, earlier told the court that Angelina had accepted a Rp 2 billion ($224,000) “fee” linked to the project while Wayan received Rp 3 billion. The money for Angelina, she said, was given to Angelina’s assistant, Jefry.

But on Wednesday, Angelina denied having an assistant named Jefry. “I only have a secretary named Lindina and two expert staff members, Heidi and Ridwan Effendi,” she told the court.

Permai Group driver Lutfi Ardiansyah told the court earlier that he was instructed to deliver a box full of money to Wayan’s office at the House of Representatives. On the way out, he said, he saw Angelina walking toward Wayan’s room.

Angelina dismissed Lutfi’s testimony, saying that she never set foot in Wayan’s office.

Testifying at the same trial, Wayan denied receiving money from Nazaruddin’s company, saying that he asked his staff after a news report suggested Lutfi had delivered money to his office.

“[My staffer] said that there was never any guest named Lutfi and [my staffer] never gave any receipt,” he told the court.

Nazaruddin, a former treasurer of the Democratic Party, is charged with taking Rp 4.3 billion to rig the village tender.