Nivell Rayda

Anggodo Faces the KPK for First Time as a Corruption Suspect

Grilled as a graft suspect for the first time, businessman Anggodo Widjojo on Monday endured more than 10 hours of questioning at the Corruption Eradication Commission headquarters in the wake of his arrest last week.

“Nothing new with today’s questioning. I have dealt with worse,” said the controversial businessman, who was charged on Thursday by the commission, also known as the KPK, for attempted bribery, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to commit acts of corruption.

Held at Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta, Anggodo dismissed speculation that he had managed to buy himself certain privileges and luxury items behind bars.

“I share my cell with 16 other detainees,” Anggodo said upon arriving at KPK headquarters in South Jakarta at 10 a.m.

“I don’t get any special treatment. Just the usual stuff.”

Anticorruption activists have been pushing the KPK to charge Anggodo ever since wiretapped telephone conversations between him and several law enforcement officials were publicly aired late last year. The recordings shocked the nation, revealing an apparent conspiracy to frame KPK deputy chairmen Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah for extortion charges.

Anggodo was originally investigated on seven separate criminal charges by the police, who said last year that they could not find any evidence against him before forwarding the case to the KPK.

A middleman and a potential star witness in the case, Ary Muladi, also visited the KPK and pleading with the commission not to charge him. Ary, however, has been charged by police with embezzling Rp 5.1 billion ($551,000) Anggodo claimed was used to bribe KPK officials.

Ary claimed he passed the funds instead to a man known only as Yulianto, whose identity and whereabouts remain unknown.

“My client’s status at the KPK is still unclear,” said Muladi’s lawyer, Sugeng Teguh Santoso. “We demand clarification of the matter because my client has been cooperative.”

Two retired deputy attorney generals, Abdul Hakim Ritonga and Wisnu Subroto, and Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK) Deputy Chairman I Ketut Sudiharsa were also implicated in the case.

Following the scandal, Ritonga immediately submitted his resignation while the LPSK suspended Sudiharsa. Subroto was no longer working for the Attorney General’s Office at the time.

LPSK Chairman Abdul Haris Semendawai said that the agency would stage an ethics committee hearing on Thursday to decide Sudiharsa’s fate.

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