TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) will investigate into five corruption cases in flag carrier Garuda Indonesia allegedly involving the company’s former president director Emirsyah Satar. The alleged bribery in the procurement of Rolls-Royce plane engine between 2009 and 2012 may be among several cases embroiling Emirsyah. KPK deputy chief Saut Situmorang said that the agency had received reports in relation to Emir. “It may lead to investigation into other [cases],” Saut said Saturday, January 21, in Jakarta.
Saut said Garuda Workers’ Union had filed reports on five alleged corruption cases and financial mismanagement in the company since 2006. The Union’s official Tomy Tampatty said that the then board of directors allegedly took billions of the company’s cash. “We have submitted the evidence and documents to the KPK,” he said. Emirsyah served as Garuda’s boss from 2005 to 2014.
After filing the report and submitted the documents, the Union was questioned twice by the KPK, according to Tomy. Having seen no progress made by the KPK, it took the issue to the House’s Legal Commission. He also said that the Union had filed a report on domestic ticket sales in 2001 that had caused hundreds of millions in losses to Garuda. In 2009, the Union reported irregularities in Garuda loan restructuring worth Rp270 billion.
Tomy added that in 2010, the Union filed a report on alleged corruption in promotional and advertisement funds as well as irregularities in information technology infrastructure that might had caused Rp140 billion in state losses. In 2012, the Legal Commission had said that the KPK leaderships could not find sufficient evidence. “We expect the KPK to be more serious about finding the evidence now,” Tomy said.
The KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah said that the office will interrogate Emirsyah as a suspect in early February. The anti-graft agency had questioned him and his wife Sandrina Abubakar early last month. The KPK has named the former Garuda Indonesia president director as a suspect for allegedly accepting Rp20 billion bribes from Rolls-Royce for Airbus engine procurement.
Emirsyah’s defense lawyer Luhut Pangaribuan had allowed the KPK to investigate into the case. “We respect the KPK’s authority. Mr. Emir believes that he had never done what he has been accused of,” he said.
INDRA MAULIDARI
