C

orruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors on Thursday indicted PT Kaltim Parna Industri president director Artha Meris Simbolon, accusing her of bribing former Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas) head Rudi Rubiandini, who was earlier convicted in the case.

Artha has been accused of paying US$522,500 in bribes to obtain SKKMigas'€™ recommendation for the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry to lower the price of gas for her company.

'€œThe money was meant to coax Rudi into issuing a recommendation, asking the ministry to lower the price of gas for the company,'€ prosecutor Irene Putrie read in her indictment at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Thursday, adding that the money was given to Rudi through Deviardi, who has also been sentenced in the case.

The bribery scheme began when one of Kaltim Parna commissioners, Marihad Simbolon, who is also Artha'€™s father, sent a gas price proposal directly to the ministry, but the request was rejected because the ministry deemed that the current gas price was '€œprofitable enough'€ for the company. The company insisted the current price was '€œtoo high'€.

Following the rejection, Marihad told Rudi on March 24 that the company could go bankrupt if it had to pay the current gas price.

'€œRudi later said that he would find a solution and would issue a recommendation directed at the ministry,'€ the KPK indictment reads.

Later, Morihad introduced Artha to Rudi and go-between Deviardi, telling them that further communication regarding the gas price would be handled by Artha.

The bribes were then paid to Rudi through Deviardi on four occasions.

In April, Artha gave Deviardi $250,000 at Sari Pan Pacific Hotel in Jakarta. A couple days later, another $22,500 was handed over, again through Deviardi, at a coffee shop in Plaza Senayan shopping mall in Jakarta.

Later in August, Artha again gave Deviardi $200,000 and $50,000 on two different occasions in Jakarta.

Artha was charged under Article 5 of the 1999 Corruption Law, which carries a maximum sentence of five years'€™ imprisonment for bribing state officials.

Marihad, who is reportedly suffering from a serious illness, remains free, but the antigraft body said that it would press ahead with its investigation into the SKKMigas bribery case, implying that more suspects would be prosecuted in the case.

'€œProgress has been made and the investigation will continue,'€ KPK spokesman Johan Budi said on Thursday.

Rudi has been sentenced to seven years in prison for accepting $2.6 million from a number of oil and gas companies, including Parna Industri, while Deviardi received four-and-a-half years for serving as a go-between in the case.

Rudi said that he '€œhad to'€ accept bribes from a number of people because there were demands for money from '€œstakeholders'€, referring to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and the House of Representatives.

As of today, the KPK is investigating four separate graft cases plaguing the ministry, SKKMigas and the House.

The massive alleged corruption plaguing the three institutions has implicated other figures, including former energy and mineral resources minister Jero Wacik, who is also a senior Democratic Party politician, and former House Commission VII chairman Sutan Bhatoegana, also a Democratic Party politician.