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Jakarta Post

Dahlan blamed for asset sales

Wahyoe Boediwardhana (The Jakarta Post)
Surabaya
Wed, December 7, 2016

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Dahlan blamed for asset sales In the hot seat: Former state-owned enterprises minister Dahlan Iskan listens to his team of lawyers during the second hearing of his trial at the Surabaya Corruption Court in East Java on Tuesday. Dahlan has been charged with corruption in the sale of 33 assets belonging to PT Panca Wira Usaha when he was the president director of the company from 2000 to 2009. (JP/Wahyoe Boediwardhana)

O

nce a rising political star in then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s administration, former minister and media mogul Dahlan Iskan has stumbled into a corruption case realting to when he served as a company executive.

Prosecutors indicted Dahlan Iskan on Tuesday for the unlawful sale of assets that the state claims cost it Rp 11 billion (US$825,000).

Dahlan is accused of selling 33 assets in Kediri and Tulungagung belonging to PT Panca Wira Usaha (PWU), a company owned by the East Java administration, for prices below the market standard when he was serving as the president director of the company between 2000 and 2009.

A team of prosecutors read the indictment at a hearing at the Sidoarjo Corruption Court.

Lead prosecutor R. Harwiyadi said the asset sales violated regulations because they were sold below the area’s taxable value of property (NJOP) and without approval of the local administration.

“The asset sales did not get the approval of the local councilors and governor. They were only based on a letter from the local council chairman at that time,” he said.

Dahlan was charged under the Corruption Law’s Article 2 and Article 18 for abusing his authority to enrich himself and other parties.

Responding to the charge, Dahlan, who owns the Jawa Pos media group, said he rejected it.

“I understand the indictment. I even know the background of the indictment. Prosecutors made it in a hurry. I reject it. I ask for a briefing with my lawyer. Give us time,” said Dahlan, who has officially named former minister of law and human rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra as his lawyer.

After having a short discussion with Dahlan, Yusril asked the panel of judges to give them a week to respond to the prosecutors’ charge.

“There will be two objection notes. One will be from me as a lawyer. The other one will be from him as a defendant,” Yusril told reporters after the trial.

A popular businessman and company executive during Yudhoyono’s administration, Dahlan was entrusted to lead state electricity firm PLN and was later appointed to be the state-owned enterprises minister.

When Yudhoyono ended his tenure in 2014, Dahlan had been overwhelmed with corruption accusations involving the different institutions he had led.

The Jakarta Prosecutor’s Office named him a suspect in a case involving the procurement of power transformers.

The Attorney General’s Office also questioned him over the purchase of 16 electric buses worth up to Rp 32 billion during his tenure as minister in 2013.

In addition, he was questioned along with the former president director of state lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Sofyan Basir, former BRI financial director Ahmad Baiquni and the head of Jakarta-listed gas distributor PT Perusahaan Gas Negara’s institutional relations department, Santiaji Gunawan.

Three ministers in the Yudhoyono administration — religious affairs minister Suryadharma Ali, youth and sports minister Andi Mallarangeng and energy and mineral res minister Jero Wacik — have been convicted of corruption involving their ministries.

Former health minister Siti Fadilah Supari has been named a suspect for alleged corruption involving a procurement project undertaken while she was in office.

After Wednesday’s hearing, Yusril demanded the immediate release of Dahlan, who was taken into custody to be held at the Medaeng detention center right after he was named a suspect in the PWU case.

The lawyer also asked the panel of judges to revoke the ban on Dahlan traveling abroad because he needed to go to China for a medical checkup in connection with a liver transplant he underwent there.

“The medical checkup has been temporarily stopped because of the ban. Hopefully the court will consider revoking the ban,” Yusril said.

Responding to the request, prosecutors said it was solely up to the court to decide.

“It’s no longer our authority to decide on that. The authority is with the court,” said I Nyoman Sucitrawan, a member of the prosecution team.

The trial was adjourned until Dec. 13 when the court is to hear the defendant’s defense statements.

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