Hopefully, the advice he offers will be helpful in enforcing the law and eradicating corruption in the country."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The former law minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra has expressed interest to become the legal adviser to the former ruling Democrat Party treasurer M. Nazaruddin, who is currently serving a jail term on charges of corruption.
"So long, I have to be only his legal adviser and I am ready for it," the law professor stated in a text message received here on Friday.
On Thursday, before testifying as a witness in the case of a former Sports Ministry official, Deddy Kusdinar, Nazaruddin noted that he required a legal adviser in order to unveil a number of corruption cases that he had knowledge of.
"Nazar is ready to uncover several corruption cases in the country, but he is still hesitant and apprehensive about doing it. Hence, he wants me to be his legal adviser and counselor, so that he finds the courage to say the right things. If this is what he wants, it is not an issue," he claimed.
Yusril, who is also a political figure from the Bulan Bintang (Moon and Star) Party, acknowledged that Nazar had written to him around a fortnight back, requesting him to be his counsel with regard to his plans to unearth major corruption cases.
"He has not disclosed the details of the cases as yet. But, he cursorily mentioned about the Hambalang, E-KTP, and Merpati plane purchase cases," he noted.
"This time in his letter or statement, Nazar did not request me to become his lawyer for dealing with his cases, as he already knew that I will reply in the negative. So, I will only give legal advice and counseling as the tasks of probing and investigation into what Nazar unveils, will be later handled by the law enforcers," he remarked.
Yusril, who was also the former minister and state secretary, explained that as a citizen he is obliged to help someone seeking to unveil a crime.
"Hopefully, the advice he offers will be helpful in enforcing the law and eradicating corruption in the country," he stated.
On Thursday, Nazar revealed details about his jail term in the Sukamiskin Prison, Bandung, West Java, stating that he was under tremendous pressure and feared the Head of Golkar Party faction in the House of Representatives, Setya Novanto and Aziz Syamsuddin, a member of the House Commission III from Golkar Party. Setya was also the partys treasurer.
"As soon as I was moved to the Sukamiskin Prison on Sunday, Novanto and Aziz came to visit me, although it was not a visitation day. Fadh, who was another prisoner jailed on corruption charges, came to my cell in order to meet Novanto and Aziz as he supposedly had a proposal for them, about which I have no knowledge. Aziz and Novanto are also involved in other cases that I have unveiled," he added.
Fadh El Fouz, who is a former chairman of the Youth and Sports Affairs department of the Golkar Party, was sentenced to 2.5 years of imprisonment for allegedly paying bribes to the former parliament member Wa Ode Nurhayati.
"Even during a holiday, Novanto and Aziz were able to visit the Sukamiskin prison. They said that they had received a permit for it from the Deputy Minister of Law. I replied that it was impossible as I knew the deputy minister would not have given his consent to it. A week later, Priyo (Budi Santoso) also visited Sukamiskin. He met Fadh and stated that Fadh had asked for money in order to maintain silence about the fact that Priyo had received a bribe in connection with the Al Quran procurement corruption case," Nazar pointed.
Priyo is a house deputy speaker from the Golkar Party.
According to Nazar, Fadh was not involved in the Al Quran corruption case related to the procurement of computer units, which had led to the imprisonment of the former Golkar Party MP Zulkarnaen Djabar and his son, Dendy Prasetia Zulkarnaen Putra, for a period of 15 and 8 years respectively.
"Fadh managed the IT budget and had taken a fee worth Rp21 billion from Telkom and also for the Al Quran procurement project in 2011-2012. Fadh only gave 7 percent of the fee to Zulkarnaen, while the rest was handed over to Priyo and him," Nazar claimed.
(Reporting by Desca Lidya Natalia/Uu.H-YH/KR-BSR)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
