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Although his name has repeatedly been mentioned during the trial surrounding a development funds scandal in his ministry, Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar has not been directly connected to the case, with two of his staff members distancing him from involvement.

The witnesses who have testified at the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court, most of them Muhaimin’s staff members, seem to have tried to distance themselves from the minister or have told the court that the minister never received funds in the scandal.

Two officials at the ministry, Dadong Irbarelawan and I Nyoman Suisnaya, have been accused of receiving Rp 2 billion ($222,000) in bribes from a businesswoman, Dharnawati, who has already been sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

The court in Dharnawati’s trial ruled that the bribes were given in return for granting her company, Alam Jaya Papua, projects in four Papuan districts under the ministry’s Fund for the Acceleration of Infrastructure Development in Transmigration Areas (DPPIDT).

But so far there has been no testimony that Muhaimin was involved.

During Monday’s hearing, one of Muhaimin’s staff members, Mohammad Fauzi, who was called as a witness, said he had used the minister’s name to avoid trouble.

Prosecutors believe Fauzi is a middleman who could connect the minister to the case, a claim that the witness denied in court. He said he had no connection with the minister, and that he never took any money in the case.

He told the court that Dadong had wanted to give him Rp 1.5 billion from Dharnawati, on the false impression that he had the minister’s ear.

“I never received the money because I always avoided him,” he said. “He would chase me down to try to give me the money, but I finally told him the minister had ordered me not to take any money. I only used his name because I didn’t know what else to do.

“I am not close with the minister. In fact, I have never talked with the minister. That’s why I was surprised that so many people approached me.”

Fauzi added that he would ask Muhaimin forgiveness if the two ever met.

Dharnawati earlier said that she had been prepared to pay an undisclosed sum to Muhaimin as a kickback for awarding her company ministry projects, but that no money was ever exchanged.

The businesswoman told the same court that she “was planning to give something to the minister after the projects were completed.”

She claimed that Muhaimin never received the money only because she had been arrested last August, before she was able to deliver the funds.

Muhaimin has publicly denied allegations that he received a share of the Rp 2 billion paid by Dharnawati to Nyoman and Dadong in exchange for steering the infrastructure projects to her company.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has said that Muhaimin will be called to testify in court but has said nothing about naming him a suspect.