[Straits Times] INDONESIA'S former anti-corruption tsar on Thursday denounced charges he murdered a rival for the affections of a 22-year-old golf caddy, saying he was the victim of a smear campaign.To applause from the packed public gallery, sacked chief of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Antasari Azhar accused shadowy interests of trying to frame him for the murder to silence the powerful anti-graft body.
'The murder accusation is clearly an attempt to kill my personal character due to my position as the KPK's chief,' he told the South Jakarta district court in his first opportunity to respond to the charges at his trial.
He said he had no role in the shooting murder of Nasrudin Zulkarnaen, the head of a state-owned company who was gunned down by two assassins in March as he drove to the Modernland golf club in Jakarta. Zulkarnaen was married to Rhani Juliani, the chief prosecution witness and a golf caddy at the course both men frequented.
Azhar, 56, was arrested on May 4 and has been held in police custody for allegedly masterminding the murder.
The police indictment contains explicit details on Azhar's alleged attempts to seduce Juliani in a Jakarta hotel room, saying that his designs were discovered by Zulkarnaen, who threatened to expose the married KPK chief's alleged infidelities to the media.