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Ex-envoy starts naming names
Former Indonesian ambassador to Singapore Mochamad Slamet Hidayat has named the former Foreign Ministry's secretary-general Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat as an accomplice in his corruption trial regarding renovations to the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore in 2003
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Former Indonesian ambassador to Singapore Mochamad Slamet Hidayat has named the former Foreign Ministry's secretary-general Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat as an accomplice in his corruption trial regarding renovations to the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore in 2003.
Slamet claims Sudjanan, currently Indonesian ambassador to the United States, had allegedly asked him for US$200,000 from the renovation budget.
"He called me around the third week of November, 2003, and asked for $200,000 from the renovation project," he read out during his plea at the Corruption Court on Wednesday.
Slamet said the figure was "a fixed price" and that Sudjadnan would not accept less even though he had told Sudjadnan that his request was too much.
The embassy had proposed a $1.98 million budget to renovate the embassy office and houses on Chatsworth Road, Singapore.
Sudjadnan, in his authority, brought the proposal to the Finance Ministry, which later disbursed Rp 16.4 billion (US$1,312,000).
The renovations were conducted by Ben Soon Heng Engineering Enterprises, owned by John Lee Ah Kuang. The work was completed in Nov. 2003.
On Dec. 31, 2003, Lee billed the Indonesian Embassy for S$3.38 million (US$2.253 million). However, Lee only received S$1.68 million, paid in 10 installments, while the remaining S$1.69 million was allegedly divided among several senior embassy officials.
Slamet admitted that he had pocketed S$280,000 from the project. He also named an official from the Foreign Ministry's financial division, Sutarni, who allegedly received US$120,000. Others include the embassy's treasury official Erizal, who is being tried together with Slamet, who allegedly received S$120,000 and deputy ambassador Eddy Haryadi who allegedly received S$140,000.
Therefore, Slamet had asked the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to also investigate Sudjadnan, Sutarni and Eddy.
"Our sense of justice will be tainted if the three do not face legal process for their roles in the case," Slamet said.
Slamet and Erizal were charged with violating the 1999 Law on Anti-Corruption, possibly facing up to five years in prison.
Slamet said he had also asked the three to return all the money they had received. He claims he had to take an extra Rp 1.7 billion from his personal funds in order to return the Rp 8.2 billion to the state coffer as not all the above-named people returned the same amount as they had allegedly taken.
