TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:A subcontract businessman exposed the simulator project scandal. The police have denied any inside dealings. The seven-page letter was handwritten. Some parts had been crossed out, but it was still neatly written. Sent from the Kebon Waru Prison in Bandung by Sukotjo S. Bambang, the letter was a reply to Tempo’s question, which had been sent through his lawyer a day earlier. “The truth must be said, even if it is very painful,” this businessman wrote. Incarcerated at Kebon Waru Prison since November 2011, Sukotjo played a major role in exposing the corruption scandal in the procurement of automobile and motorcycle driving simulators by the Police Traffic Division at the National Police Headquarters. As CEO of Inovasi Teknologi Indonesia, the sub-contracted company, Sukotjo exposed the price mark-ups and bribes in the Rp196 billion project. He was placed in the witness protection program after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) raised the status of the case as a criminal investigation, last week. It all began in mid-2011, when his business alliance with Budi Susanto, president director of Citra Mandiri Metalindo Abadi, fell apart. Citra had won the bid on the project funded with 2011 budget funds. PT Inovasi was accused of failing to meet the deadline for the project’s completion. Reportedly, after receiving Rp98 billion, Sukotjo only supplied 107 of the promised 700 motorcycle simulators. Not a single automobile simulator was ready. Accompanied by Adjunct Senior Police Commissioner Teddy Rusmawan, head of the procurement committee, Budi Susanto took control of Sukotjo’s home and the Inovasi factory. Sukotjo was also reported to the Bandung District Police Station on the charges of fraud and embezzlement. The case went to trial at the Bandung Administrative Court. Last May, Sukotjo was sentenced to three years and six months in prison. While serving out his sentence, Sukotjo went into action. He reported some discrepancies with the project to the KPK, the National Police Commission, and anti-corruption activists. Through an intermediary, he also sent documents and statements to Tempo. After undergoing a thorough verification process and publishing it, Tempo wrote a lengthy report about this scandal in its April 23-29, 2012 Edition, with the title “The Driving Simulator Scandal.” Sukotjo met Budi Susanto in 2009, when he aided Andrie Tedjapranata from Megacipta Nusantara, Budi’s business partner, who was working on a similar project. According to Sukotjo, though his closeness with the chief of the Traffic Division, Inspector General Djoko Susilo, Budi Susanto was awarded the bid to procure 700 motorcycle simulators worth Rp54.453 billion and 556 automobile simulators valued at Rp142.41 billion, despite the fact that Citra Mandiri Metalindo Abadi had no previous experience with simulators. It was suspected that the project bidding was pre-arranged so that Citra Mandiri would be awarded the project. Sukotjo helped prepare the documents for the other four companies competing in the bidding: Bentina Agung, Digo Mitra Slogan, Dasma Pertiwi, and Kolam Intan. He said the four companies only served as window dressing, so that it would appear that the tender had been done according to procedures. In the end, Citra Mandiri was awarded the project. In the work order signed by the Commitment-Making official, the assistant-chief of the Traffic Division, Brig.Gen. Didik Purnomo, it was agreed that the price of motorcycle simulators was Rp77.79 million per unit and Rp256.14 million for each automobile simulator unit. The price paid by the police’s Traffic Division was too high. In Citra Mandiri’s purchase agreement for goods with Inovasi Teknologi, the unit price of a motorcycle simulator was set at Rp42.8 million, and Rp80 million for an automobile simulator. According to Sukotjo, Citra Mandiri’s huge profits were shared in many directions. He said Budi Susanto asked him to send Rp15 billion to the Traffic Division Primary Cooperative. He was also asked to donate funds to some officers at the Indonesian Police General Supervision Inspectorate. There was also Rp2 billion which was suspected of being given through Djoko Susilo’s personal staff. Everyone who was named denied the charges against them. Budi Setyarso, Setri Yasra