Asian Games Graft Suspect Anjas Rivai Attends First Pretrial Session
Jakarta. The treasurer of the Indonesian Olympic Committee, or KOI, who has been named a suspect in the 2018 Asian Games graft scandal, denied all guilt during his first pretrial session at South Jakarta District Court on Friday (20/01).
Anjas Rivai was named a suspect along with KOI secretary general Dody Iswandi and businessman Ikhwan Agus, who was awarded a tender for a project involving preparations for the Games.
Anjas's lawyer Alamsyah Hanafiah requested a pretrial hearing towards the end of December, claiming that his client did not have any decision-making powers, and that his job only involved tidying up the committee's general ledger – a task he deemed similar to that of an accounting clerk.
"We have complete documents [to prove his innocence] along with all the checks," Alamsyah said, as reported by Suara Pembaruan on Monday.
"All expenses above Rp 200 million [$15,000] must be approved by KOI deputy chairman Muddai Madang and KOI secretary general Dody Iswandi," he added.
Alamsyah insisted that his client was not directly involved in the scandal, as Anjas was not the tender organizer, nor the budget controller. He was not authorized to deal with any partnerships and not even tasked to sign any accountability reports.
"We've made an appeal to the police to demand a pretrial session. I see the accusation was not correct as we have proven that at least two pieces of evidence were not really collected," he said.
The 2018 Asian Games project committee, which is authorized by KOI, received Rp 61.3 billion from the Ministry of Youth and Sports in December 2015 to promote the event. KOI decided to hold simultaneous carnivals in six cities with Muddai proposing and selecting third parties to work on the preparations.
"My client only did what had been decided by the top officials," Alamsyah said.
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