Sengman is not a presidential special staff member."
Astana, Kazakhstan (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has denied that he appointed an entrepreneur called Sengman to collect bribes from PT Indoguna in exchange for importing meat, said presidential spokesman Julian Pasha on Monday.

"Sengman is not a presidential special staff member. President Yudhoyono only knew the entrepreneur when the president was Chief of Sriwijaya Military Command from 1996 to 1997 in South Sumatra," added the spokesman.

The statement was a response to a testimony of one of the suspects of the meat import graft case, Ridwan Hakim (son of Prosperous and Justice Party`s Chief Patron Hilmi Aminuddin), who said Sengman took bribes amounting to Rp40 billion from PT Indoguna.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has named five suspects in the meat import graft case, including Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq (former Prosperous and Justice Party`s chairman), Ahmad Fathanah (Luthfi`s friend), Maria Elizabeth Liman (CEO of PT Indoguna), and two of her directors, Juard Effendi and Arya Abdi Effendi.

(Reported by Panca Hari Prabowo/translated and edited by Amie Fenia Arimbi/KR-BSR/F001)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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