Akbar denies new corruption charge

Akbar denies new corruption charge

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung flatly denied on Friday a
fresh bribery allegation, while his colleague suspected the case
was aimed at foiling his presidential bid.

Speaking on the sidelines of his campaign in the Southeast
Sulawesi provincial capital, Kendari, Akbar said he had never
promised anything to anybody to help him fight corruption
charges, which he eventually won.

Akbar admitted, however, he knew and had met the self-
confessed middleman, prosecutor Kito Irkhani, who has filed a
lawsuit against him for failing to pay his Rp 1 billion
(US$114,000) assistance fee.

But Akbar said he had never asked Kito to closely monitor his
Rp 40 billion corruption case and convince judges that he was
innocent.

"I've met him and I know Kito, but I never promised him
anything," Akbar, one of Golkar's six presidential aspirants,
told Antara.

Kito was found guilty of failing to fulfill a Rp 480 million
construction job on a house owned by Ati Mulyati in Puri Cinere,
South Jakarta, and was sentenced to one year for should this be
deleted? one month and 23 days in 2002.

Last week he submitted to the National Police a statement
refusing to be a witness and withdrawing his earlier testimony
that implicated Attorney General M.A. Rachman in an alleged
corruption case.

Kito's lawyer, Suhardi Somomoeljono, said his client filed the
legal suit because after Akbar was acquitted, he failed to give
Kito the remaining Rp 675 million of the promised money.

Akbar insisted that he relied mainly on his lawyers, Amir
Syamsuddin and Ahmad Jaya Salim, to deal with his trial.

Separately, Golkar deputy secretary-general Syamsul Mu'arif
said Kito was attempting to discredit Akbar and dash his chances
of contesting the presidential election.

"This is certainly a political move from certain groups aimed
at discrediting Akbar and therefore Golkar. But we will follow
the due process of law," Syamsul, who is also state minister of
communications and information, said.

Akbar's rival in the convention, Jusuf Kalla, said the new
court case did not concern the party, but was a personal matter
for Akbar.

"Of course, such an allegation will affect the image of Akbar
and the ongoing process for the Golkar convention," Kalla said.

Kalla, the incumbent coordinating minister for people's
welfare, refused to speculate that Kito's move would boost his
chances of winning the convention.

"The convention is about image, and Akbar should go through
the legal process," he said.

Golkar, the country's second-largest party, is scheduled to
hold a national convention to select its sole presidential
candidate as soon as the outcome of the legislative election on
April 5 is announced.