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Allowing a key witness to testify by teleconference in the trial of high-profile graft suspect Muhammad Nazaruddin would indicate a conspiracy to conceal the identity of the “big boss” behind it all, a lawyer said on Sunday.

Elza Syarief, a lawyer for Nazaruddin, said she was concerned that the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court would allow Mindo Rosalina Manulang, convicted of acting as a broker in the bid-rigging case, to testify from a remote location when the trial resumes today.

“My client doesn’t want a testimony through teleconference. It’s against the law,” she said.

She added that if the court allowed it, it would only affirm speculation that Nazaruddin’s prosecution was being engineered so that those higher up would not be touched.

“It’s being set up so that the identity of the ‘big boss’ is never revealed,” Elza said.

Nazaruddin has previously claimed that the mastermind behind the rigged bid to build an athletes’ village for the Southeast Asian Games was a “big boss” on the House of Representatives Budget Committee.

One of his lawyers, Hotman Paris Hutapea, said the individual’s initials were M.A. However, Mirwan Amir, a deputy chairman of the Budget Committee, has denied any involvement in the case.

Elza said the danger of allowing Rosalina to testify remotely was that she could more easily withhold the truth.

“She could lie. I mean, what kind of case is this where teleconferencing and the like is needed?” she said.

The lawyer for Rosalina, Muhammad Iskandar, said on Thursday that his client had received death threats from Nazaruddin’s relatives, who demanded that she recant her testimony incriminating the former Democratic Party treasurer.

According to Iskandar, the relatives visited Rosalina’s cell in Pondok Bambu prison on the nights of Dec. 26, Dec. 30 and Jan. 2 to deliver the threats. He said it was not clear how they managed to gain entry to the prison after official visiting hours.

“They threatened, ‘I will kill you and your family if you don’t revoke the investigation report [BAP],’ ” Iskandar said at Jakarta’s Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK) last Thursday.

Iskandar added that his client was unmoved by the threats and would not back down from her original testimony.

Rosalina is a former manager of Anak Negeri, a company owned by Nazaruddin. She was convicted in September of acting as a broker between the Sports Ministry and construction company Duta Graha Indah during the construction of the athletes’ village.

Nazaruddin reportedly took Rp 4.3 billion ($473,000) from Duta Graha for rigging the tender. Rosalina was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for facilitating the kickbacks to Nazaruddin and giving Rp 3.2 billion in bribes to Wafid Muharram, the Sports Ministry secretary.

However, Elza derided the claims that Rosalina had been intimidated, alleging that Iskandar had his own motivation for making the claim.

“That lawyer is an infiltrator. Rosalina’s already been convicted, so what does she need a lawyer for?” she asked.

She also questioned why Rosalina had not reported the death threats to the police.

Elza claimed the issue of the death threats only came out after the “big boss” claim was made. She added that this happened after Rosalina was told on Jan. 2 to take on Iskandar as her lawyer.

“Rosalina’s easy to buy off,” Elza said. “Iskandar’s job is to make sure she doesn’t drop dime on the ‘big boss.’ ”