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Charged with obstruction of justice and attempted bribery, businessman Anggodo Widjojo on Monday launched an apparent counterattack against a key witness in the case against him, claiming the witness had asked him for a “fee” of Rp 3 billion ($324,000).

The witness, Ary Muladi, on Friday claimed that Anggodo had offered him Rp 500 million if he would restate his original admission that he had bribed officials from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on behalf of Anggodo. KPK officials were investigating Anggodo’s brother, Anggoro Widjojo.

“Ary Muladi is lying about the Rp 500 million. The truth is ... Ary’s lawyers asked me for Rp 3 billion. I do not know what this Rp 3 billion was intended for,” Anggodo told journalists upon arriving at KPK headquarters for questioning.

Ary’s lawyers requested the money during a recent meeting at the Formula-1 Restaurant in Central Jakarta, Anggodo said, without stating the date the meeting took place.

At that time, Ary was in police custody as a suspect in the case, Anggodo said. Ary was released later because of lack of evidence.

Ary’s lawyer, Sugeng Teguh Santoso, denied asking for Rp 3 billion from Anggodo, although he admitted that such a meeting took place.

Speaking to journalists by telephone, Sugeng said the meeting was initiated by Anggodo, who used the occasion to try to persuade Ary while in detention to revert to his original admission – that he taken bribe money from Anggodo to pay off KPK deputies in exchange for halting investigations against Anggoro.

Anggodo earlier admitted to having given Ary Rp 5.1 billion in cash to be passed on to antigraft officials who were investigating his brother.

Ary told police he gave some of that money to two KPK deputy chairmen, Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah.

Based on Ary’s claim, Bibit and Chandra were named graft suspects by police.

However, the case created a public uproar after Ary retracted his initial statement and said he had never met the two KPK deputies in person, and after the Constitutional Court played shocking wiretapped telephone conversations in which Ary, Anggodo and members of the National Police and the Attorney General’s Office apparently discussed how to frame the two KPK deputies.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono eventually stepped in before South Jakarta district prosecutors finally dropped the case late last year.

Anggodo’s lawyer, Bonaran Situmeang, arrived at KPK headquarters separately on Monday, accompanied by a dozen other lawyers. Bonaran, who was being summoned as a witness in Anggodo’s case, said he would not answer questions from antigraft officials.

He said he declined to testify against his client, saying he was compelled by the law not to. He had also been summoned to do so earlier this month.

Anggoro has fled the country. He is a fugitive suspect in a case involving alleged corruption in the Ministry of Forestry’s purchase of telecommunication equipment from his company, PT Masaro Radiokom.

He is believed to be hiding in Singapore.