Terror defendant Abu Bakar Bashir has denied receiving 20 percent of the money obtained from the armed robbery of a Bank CIMB Niaga in Medan, North Sumatra.
“I am accused of receiving 20 percent [from the heist]. That is a fabrication due to pressure from the West,” Bashir told reporters before attending the hearing at the South Jakarta District Court on Monday.
“A western reader has commented on my case, suggesting that my trial be dropped and I be shot dead. The Indonesian government is still under pressures from U.S. and Australia, who say my trial is not necessary because it costs money,” Bashir said.
Two witnesses, Beben Khoirul Banin and Khoirul Ghazali, allegedly involved in last year's robbery have stated that Bashir took a 20 percent cut from the CIMB Niaga Bank heist.
But Bashir said: “I don't even know who they are.”
Members of Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid, a fundamentalist group founded by Bashir, during the March 10 hearing distributed a signed statement from Khairul Ghazhali, stating he was forced by police to testify that the cleric had taken some of the money stolen during an armed robbery at a CIMB Niaga Bank branch in Medan.
“I offer my apology and regret my mistake,” the statement read. “It was not true and was made under duress.”
( The truth and nothing but the truth said Pak Bashir, or does he?) siK.
ma 4 apr 2011 - 4:35