Businessman admits to promising payoff to Transportation Ministry official

Irawaty Wardany ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 06/29/2009 7:03 PM  |  National

Businessman Hontjo Kurniawan, charged with bribing legislator Abdul Hadi Djamal in an infrastructure development project bribery case, admitted Monday to having promised to give 0.5 percent of the project’s Rp 100 billion budget (US$10 million) to a go-between from the Transportation Ministry, Darmawati Dareho.

“I promised her 0.5 percent of the project’s budget should I win the tender for the project,” Hontjo, commissioner of PT Kurnia Jaya Wirabhakti, told the Corruption Court in Jakarta.

However, the payment was never made because he, along with Abdul and Darmawati, were arrested before the House of Representatives had approved the project.

Hontjo admitted that when he asked Abdul to approve his company for the project tender, he met Abdul’s demand to provide Rp 3 billion for payoffs.

The payment was made in several installments: first was US$80,000 and Rp 32 million on Feb. 26; $70,000 was paid later that day, and the last payment, of $90,000 plus Rp 54 million, was paid on March 2.

All the payments were made through ministry official Darmawati, who has also been named a suspect in the case.

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