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Nazaruddin Trains Fire on Increasingly Embattled Anas
Rizky Amelia & Novianti Setuningsih (SP) | February 04, 2012

Muhammad Nazaruddin focused on Democratic Party head Anas Urbaningrum in talks with the press after his trial at Jakarta’s Anti-Corruption Court on Friday. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya) Muhammad Nazaruddin focused on Democratic Party head Anas Urbaningrum in talks with the press after his trial at Jakarta’s Anti-Corruption Court on Friday. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)
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After the declaration of Angelina Sondakh as an official suspect in a long-running graft scandal, many now wonder if Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum will soon follow suit.

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Abraham Samad said it was hoped that naming Angelina would allow the antigraft agency to widen its net of suspects.

“She is an entry point to develop the case further,” he told reporters in Jakarta on Friday.

While the KPK chief refused to say who might be next in line, former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin said the KPK should name Anas.

“What I want is that Anas go to the KPK and admit that he has received the money,” he said before his trial resumed at Jakarta’s Anti-Corruption Court on Friday.

Nazaruddin is the primary suspect in a graft case surrounding the construction of the athletes’ village for the 2011 Southeast Asian Games in Palembang.

He said if Anas continued to deny his role in the scandal, he would make further allegations.

“If he is still unwilling to admit [to his crimes], unfortunately I will have to reveal other [information],” he said.

Nazaruddin reiterated that he had known Anas extremely well since 2006.

“I was in frequent contact with Anas. I spent almost every day and night with him for three years in a row,” he said.

Nazaruddin said the leader of a powerful and respected party should set a good example by admitting to what he had done.

The scandal threatens to topple the Democrats’ position as the largest party in Indonesia in the 2014 elections, with party members divided over whether or not Anas should resign his post. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has so far been silent on his party’s growing schism.

Nazaruddin said Anas’s involvement could easily be traced, claiming that all the bank accounts of Nazaruddin staffer Yulianis pointed to Anas’s role.

Last week, Nazaruddin claimed Anas had received Rp 50 billion ($5.6 million) in kickbacks from a Rp 1.7 trillion project to build a sports stadium in Bogor, as well as Rp 80 billion from a Rp 2.2 trillion deal to build power plants in East Kalimantan and Riau.

Yulianis said while testifying at Nazaruddin’s trial that she had organized the delivery of Rp 30 billion and $5 million to a Democratic Party congress in May 2010. Nazaruddin said the money was meant to help ensure that Anas was elected as party chairman.

Anas defeated Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng and House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie in the party election.

Nazaruddin also accused the KPK of dragging its feet in declaring Anas a suspect despite increasingly prevalent allegations.

‘There seems to be a deliberate move to protect him,” he said, adding that Anas’s fall would be a doomsday for the party.

Nazaruddin also accused Anas of having a role in the Permai Group, a holding company owned by Nazaruddin that allegedly used its proxies to win government projects that were subcontracted out in exchange for bribes.

Later on Friday, KPK prosecutors also put former Youth and Sports Ministry secretary Wafid Muharram in the witness chair to testify against Nazaruddin in the SEA Games scandal.