TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Refrizal, a member of the Prosperity and Justice Party (PKS) Syura Council, claimed that he was unfamiliar with the beef import bribery suspect Ahmad Fathanah. Refrizal said that he never met Fathanah personally in his party's internal events.
"Fathanah is known at the House of Representatives' (DPR) Commission IV [a commission partnering with the Agriculture Ministry] as the person who looks for projects," said Refrizal, contacted by Tempo on Tuesday, May 7.
Refrizal added that there are a lot of 'project seekers' similar to Fathanah at the DPR. Refrizal explained that Fathanah may have been dropping names because he believed that he was close to the former PKS president, Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq.
Prior to the beef import scandal, Refrizal insisted that he never heard of Ahmad Fathanah. If Fathanah is a person with significant position and an Islamic boarding school owner, he should be well known in politics. On the other hand, Refrizal added, no PKS members knew about a man named Fathanah.
WAYAN AGUS PURNOMO