T

he Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) has aborted the tender process for a waste-fueled power plant infrastructure project, won by PT Bandung Raya Indah Lestari (BRIL), citing an alleged conspiracy.

In a hearing, the KPPU council found that behind the selection of the winning bid there was a conspiracy involving PT BRIL, then Bandung mayor Dada Rosada and PD Kebersihan Kota Bandung, committed before the bidding stage, and another conspiracy involving PT BRIL and the bidding committee during the pre-qualification stage.

Chairman of the KPPU council, Munrokhim Misanam, who read out the cancelation on Friday in Jakarta, said in his written statement that the conspiracies violated the law and hampered business competition.

“The reported party [the bidding committee] was inconsistent and discriminative in conducting pre-qualification evaluations regarding the administration, business and technical criteria,” Munrokhim stated.

The KPPU council also stated that the conspiracies committed by the reported parties had violated Article 22 of Law No. 5/1999 on monopoly practices and unhealthy business competition. This was why the council declared the bidding process null and void.

The KPPU council’s decision received a warm welcome from the director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment’s (Walhi) West Java branch, Dadan Ramdan.

“The case has to be further processed in the corruption crime domain, especially because it involves a public officer, namely the former mayor,” Ramdan said, adding that the conspiracy created a bad precedent.

The Rp 622.4 billion (US$46.68 million) project was initiated during the term of the 2008-2013 Bandung mayor Dada Rosada, who is currently serving a jail term at the Sukamiskin prison for bribery after misappropriating social funding during his time in office.