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KPK names company suspect in graft case surrounding surveillance satellites
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The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) building in Jakarta. (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)
T
he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has named PT Merial Esa a suspect in a graft case surrounding the procurement of sea surveillance satellite systems at the Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla).
The KPK previously named seven individuals suspects in the case, which was first brought to light in December 2016.
One of the seven, Merial Esa director Fahri Darmawansyah, was found guilty in May 2017 of bribing Bakamla deputy chief Eko Susilo Hadi with Rp 2 billion (US$141,500) to win the tender for an intelligence systems project worth Rp 222 billion. He was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.
Eko himself was sentenced to four years and three months' imprisonment for accepting kickbacks, while Golkar legislator Fayakhun Andriadi was found guilty of accepting bribes related to the project.
“After looking at the facts in the trials, based on sufficient preliminary evidence, the KPK has opened a new investigation and identified a corporation, namely PT ME [Merial Esa], as a suspect,” KPK deputy chairman Alexander Marwata said in a press conference on Friday.
Alexander said Merial Esa commissioner Erwin Sya’af Arief, who was named a suspect in the case in December, had promised Fayakhun a fee to ensure that the satellite project would be included in the adjusted 2016 state budget.
Fahmi then allegedly transferred $911,480 to Fayakhun in four installments through bank accounts in Singapore and Guangzhou, China.
“The process of giving out the bribes is suspected to have been carried out by people based on their working relationship with PT ME, which carried out the actions in a corporate environment,” Alexander said.
“Hopefully, this legal process against a corporation can act as a lesson to all other corporations to conduct business healthily with the principles of good corporate governance.”
Merial Esa is the fifth corporation to be named a suspect by the antigraft body, with three other corporations previously named suspects in graft cases and one in a money-laundering case.
The Jakarta Corruption Court ordered in January that PT Nusa Konstruksi Enjiniring pay a Rp 700 million fine for its complicity in graft involving several construction projects, the first such verdict against a corporation. The other three cases are still ongoing. (kmt)
