Lawmaker Mahyuddin N.S. says prawns and not money was the topic of a discussion at the Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry last year between himself,

graft suspects Angelina Sondakh, Muhammad Nazaruddin and Wafid Muharram, and the minister, Andi Mallarangeng.

Mahyuddin, chairman of House of Representatives Commission X, which oversees sports, said the only thing he could remember about the meeting was what they ate.

“Angie was sitting next to me and she had just given birth. As a doctor myself, I reminded her not to eat too many prawns,” he said while testifying at Nazaruddin’s trial on Friday.

Nazaruddin, a former treasurer of the Democratic Party, is on trial at the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court for receiving Rp 4.3 billion ($477,000) to rig the tender for the construction of an athletes’ village for last year’s Southeast Asian Games.

Nazaruddin earlier claimed that plans to rig the tender were formulated during the meeting at the ministry, with all sides agreeing to overlook any irregularities in exchange for kickbacks.

But Mahyuddin, also a Democrat, told the court that he couldn’t remember what was discussed at the meeting because it was not important.

He did remember that the meeting was staged at lunch time.

“We ate, so we didn’t talk much. We ate a lot,” he said. “Nazar also ate a lot. After we ate, we all went home.”

Throughout Friday’s court session, Mahyuddin repeatedly answered “I can’t remember” and “I have no recollection of that,” frustrating both the prosecution and Nazaruddin’s lawyer.

“You are a professor at Sriwijaya University. Of course you have to be committed to the truth. I would like to remind you that you are under oath,” prosecutor Yuli Kristiana said.

Mahyuddin responded by submitting a letter from his doctors to the panel of judges.

“I would like to present a letter that I have a cognitive disorder; that is why I keep on forgetting,” he said, adding that he also once had a stroke.

But Mahyuddin appeared certain when the court asked him whether he received kickbacks from the Rp 191 billion project.

“No, your honor. I have already explained to the media that I didn’t receive anything,” he said.

Mahyuddin also denied that he is the “big chief.”

Previously, Nazaruddin’s employee and co-suspect in the case, Mindo Rosalina Manulang, said the “big chief” mentioned in a BlackBerry Messenger conversation she had with Angelina in June 2010 was Mahyuddin.

In the conversation, Angelina said that the “big chief” wanted “Malang apples,” believed to be a cover term for money.

Three people, including Rosalina and Wafid, have been found guilty for their roles in the case.

Earlier this month, Angelina was named a suspect for receiving a Rp 2 billion “fee” linked to the project.

A number of other lawmakers and politicians have been linked to the case. These include I Wayan Koster, a House Budget Committee member from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum and House Budget Committee deputy chairman Mirwan Amir, who is also a Democrat.