Akbar denies new corruption charge<\/p>\n
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung flatly denied on Friday a
\nfresh bribery allegation, while his colleague suspected the case
\nwas aimed at foiling his presidential bid.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the sidelines of his campaign in the Southeast
\nSulawesi provincial capital, Kendari, Akbar said he had never
\npromised anything to anybody to help him fight corruption
\ncharges, which he eventually won.<\/p>\n
Akbar admitted, however, he knew and had met the self-
\nconfessed middleman, prosecutor Kito Irkhani, who has filed a
\nlawsuit against him for failing to pay his Rp 1 billion
\n(US$114,000) assistance fee.<\/p>\n
But Akbar said he had never asked Kito to closely monitor his
\nRp 40 billion corruption case and convince judges that he was
\ninnocent.<\/p>\n
\"I've met him and I know Kito, but I never promised him
\nanything,\" Akbar, one of Golkar's six presidential aspirants,
\ntold Antara.<\/p>\n
Kito was found guilty of failing to fulfill a Rp 480 million
\nconstruction job on a house owned by Ati Mulyati in Puri Cinere,
\nSouth Jakarta, and was sentenced to one year for should this be
\ndeleted? one month and 23 days in 2002.<\/p>\n
Last week he submitted to the National Police a statement
\nrefusing to be a witness and withdrawing his earlier testimony
\nthat implicated Attorney General M.A. Rachman in an alleged
\ncorruption case.<\/p>\n
Kito's lawyer, Suhardi Somomoeljono, said his client filed the
\nlegal suit because after Akbar was acquitted, he failed to give
\nKito the remaining Rp 675 million of the promised money.<\/p>\n
Akbar insisted that he relied mainly on his lawyers, Amir
\nSyamsuddin and Ahmad Jaya Salim, to deal with his trial.<\/p>\n
Separately, Golkar deputy secretary-general Syamsul Mu'arif
\nsaid Kito was attempting to discredit Akbar and dash his chances
\nof contesting the presidential election.<\/p>\n
\"This is certainly a political move from certain groups aimed
\nat discrediting Akbar and therefore Golkar. But we will follow
\nthe due process of law,\" Syamsul, who is also state minister of
\ncommunications and information, said.<\/p>\n
Akbar's rival in the convention, Jusuf Kalla, said the new
\ncourt case did not concern the party, but was a personal matter
\nfor Akbar.<\/p>\n
\"Of course, such an allegation will affect the image of Akbar
\nand the ongoing process for the Golkar convention,\" Kalla said.<\/p>\n
Kalla, the incumbent coordinating minister for people's
\nwelfare, refused to speculate that Kito's move would boost his
\nchances of winning the convention.<\/p>\n
\"The convention is about image, and Akbar should go through
\nthe legal process,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Golkar, the country's second-largest party, is scheduled to
\nhold a national convention to select its sole presidential
\ncandidate as soon as the outcome of the legislative election on
\nApril 5 is announced.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/akbar-denies-new-corruption-charge-1447893297",
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