Anti-graft body grills house secretary general

Jakarta, Suara Indonesia News - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Tuesday grilled the secretary general of the House of Representatives (DPR), Nining Indra Saleh, in an alleged bribery case over the appointment in 2004 of Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor Miranda Goeltom.

Nining left the KPK building at around 02.30 p.m. after undergoing questioning since around 10.00 a.m. She did not give much comment about the case to journalists who had been waiting at the KPK building.

"I was questioned as a witness," she said.

She said she would tell everything she knew about the case if it was to be brought to justice.

The anti-graft body was supposed to question Nining on Monday. But because of her hectic activity she could meet the KPK`s summons only on Tuesday.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi confirmed that Nining had been questioned in the alleged bribery case.

Miranda Goeltom herself has been questioned several times as a witness in the bribery case involving several DPR members who were on the panel in charge of selecting candidates for the BI senior deputy governorship in 2004.

Johan said Nining`s testimony in the alleged bribery case would be useful to complete the dossiers of those named suspect in the case.

So far, the KPK has named four suspects in the case. They are Dudhie Makmun Murod, Endin A.J. Soefihara and Hamka Yandhu (all three members of the Finance and Banking Commission in the DPR when the bribery case took place) and former Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) member Udju Djuhaeri.

Several active and former House members had also undergone questioning by the KPK over the same case. They were Nurdin Halid, MS. Hidayat, Achmad Hafiz Zawawi, TM. Nurlif, Baharuddin Aritonang and Daniel Tanjung.

The case became known to the public after former House member Agus Condro admitted he had received traveler`s cheques worth a total of Rp 500 million after Miranda was picked to fill the BI senior deputy governor`s post.

In his statement to the media, Agus also said other House members had also received cheques for the same amount.(*)