AGO to present Siti Fadillah as witness

Attorney General’s Office (AGO) prosecutors say they will present former health minister Siti Fadillah Supari as a witness in the trial of Mulya A. Hasjmy, who was Siti’s subordinate during her 2004-2009 tenure.
“We will present another four or five witnesses, your honor. One of them will be Siti Fadillah Supari,” prosecutor D. Sihotang said on Thursday.
Mulya’s lawyers objected to the prosecutors’ request, saying that they needed more time until the police finished their investigation into Siti’s role.
But presiding judge Mien Trisnawati said: “Prosecutors have the right [to present Siti].”
The trial was adjourned until next Thursday.
One of Mulya’s lawyers, Syaiful Ahmad Dinar, said after the trial session that they needed the police to find more evidence against Siti that might take the blame away from Mulya.
“We want to uncover facts behind the prosecution of Mulya that also involved Siti. If we rush the trial, we cannot reveal all the facts,” Syaiful said.
Mulya is indicted on corruption charges for directly appointing state-owned pharmaceutical company Indofarma in a botched ministry procurement case.
In 2005, when Mulya was the head of the ministry’s health crisis response center, he allegedly granted Indofarma marketing director M. Naguib a crisis response medical equipment procurement project without holding an appropriate tender.
Mulya has repeatedly accused Siti of ordering him to help Indofarma win the bid.
Just recently, the National Police detective unit named Siti a suspect in the case, which caused Rp 6.15 billion (US$670,350) in state losses.

Source : The Jakarta Post