Sri Mulyani: Harley Smuggling Causes Rp1.5bn State Loss

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the potential state loss from the alleged smuggling case of Harley Davidson motorcycle, Brompton bicycle, and other goods on board of Garuda Indonesia’s new aircraft reached Rp532 million to Rp1.5 billion.

“That’s the potential state loss if the contrabands are not declared,” said Sri at her office, Jakarta, Thursday, December 5. The figure was a prediction calculated from the market price.

Based on the ministry’s observation, the high-end motorcycle valued Rp800 million per unit, while the bike price was around Rp50-60 million per unit.

The smuggling case was discovered after the customs agency of Soekarno-Hatta Airport carried out an inspection on the transport facility of Garuda’s aircraft that came from the Airbus factory in France, Sunday, November 17.

The new aircraft Airbus A330 900-Neo was procured and landed in Garuda Maintenance Facility in Cengkareng. Boarded the jet were 22 passengers, including Garuda’s president director I Gusti Ngurah Askhara Danadiputra or Ari Askhara.

The former managing director of the World Bank said the aircraft’s manifest stated zero cargo. But when the aircraft hull was inspected, there were found a number of luggage and 18 brown boxes. Fifteen boxes containing dissembled Harley Davidson had a claim tag on behalf of SAW alias SAS, while the other three boxes belonged to LS loaded new Brompton bicycle and its accessories.

According to Sri Mulyani, the cargo owners did not submit a customs declaration or verbal statement about their belongings. The goods were still seized by the customs agency for further examination.

CAESAR AKBAR