0 Luthfi Set Up Talks Between Minister, Importer: Lawyer

Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, the former political party chief charged in a bid-rigging case, set up a now-infamous meeting that allegedly discussed the awarding of beef import contracts, a lawyer for a witness says. John Pieter Nazar, the lawyer for Elda Devianne Adiningrat, the chairwoman of the Indonesian Seed Association, said on Thursday that Luthfi, the ex-president of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), was the one who organized last month’s meeting in Medan, North Sumatra, between the agriculture minister and a beef import executive. 

“I can confirm that the meeting in Medan did indeed take place, but my client did not attend it. She only went to Medan to accompany Maria Elizabeth Liman,” John said, referring to the chief director of Indoguna Utama, a beef importing company. “The person who set up this meeting between Elizabeth and the agriculture minister was Luthfi,” he added, as quoted by Kompas.com. Luthfi is alleged to have demanded a kickback from Indoguna for using his influence over the minister, Suswono, a PKS member, to ensure that the company was awarded a lucrative government contract to import several thousand tons of beef this year. 

He has been charged by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) along with two Indoguna executives, Arya Abdi Effendi and Juard Effendi, as well as Luthfi’s assistant, Ahmad Fathanah. Neither Suswono, Elizabeth nor Elda have been charged, although the KPK has issued travel bans for the two women to stop them leaving the country. Elda and Elizabeth were questioned by the KPK on Thursday, along with Luthfi, Ahmad, Arya and Juard, as investigators try to determine the scale of the alleged bid-rigging. 

Also summoned to the KPK office were two Agriculture Ministry officials, Agus Suganda and Ahmad Junaedi, who were both questioned as witnesses against Luthfi. While the KPK alleges the meeting in Medan was meant to discuss the awarding of import contracts, lawyers for Luthfi claim he set it up to air concerns about the rampant use of rat meat and pork amid an ongoing beef scarcity. Novianti Setuningsih

source : the jakarta globe