Wisnu, the company’s production and technology director, allegedly received kickbacks to grant the projects to machinery supplier PT Tjokro Bersaudara (Tjokro Group) and engineering and manufacturing company PT Grand Kartech after executives of those companies agreed to pay “commitment fees” to him.

Wisnu allegedly received through an intermediary, businessman Alexander Muskitta, on Wednesday a check amounting to Rp 50 million (US$3,494) from Grand Kartech president director Kenneth Sutardja, while Tjokro Group chief operating officer Kurniawan Eddy Tjokro allegedly handed $4,000 and Rp 45 million to Alexander at a coffee shop in South Jakarta.

Alexander, suspected of having acted under Wisnu’s instructions, is said to have later put the money into his own bank account.

The antigraft body arrested Wisnu on Friday along with Alexander at a shopping mall in Bintaro, South Tangerang, while the latter was delivering Rp 20 million in cash as part of the alleged kickbacks. It also detained Kenneth on the same day at his house in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, while Kurniawan remains at large.

“We suggest that [Kurniawan] immediately comes to the KPK building to surrender,” KPK deputy chairman Saut Situmorang said, during a press conference at the KPK headquarters in South Jakarta on Saturday evening.

Saut explained that Wisnu had made a procurement order related to boilers and containers for the company this year. The projects were worth Rp 24 billion and Rp 2.4 billion respectively.

Alexander allegedly introduced Kenneth and Kurniawan, who were interested in taking on the projects, and were ready to pay a commitment fee of 10 percent of the total value of the procurement fees stated in the contract.

Saut said Alexander had asked Kenneth and Kurniawan to give him Rp 50 million and Rp 100 million, respectively.

The KPK investigators seized Alexander’s bank passbook as evidence, as all of the kickback money was allegedly put into his bank account.

Saut said the KPK regretted that there were still cases of bribery at state-owned companies.

“Krakatau Steel, established in 1970, has become a leading steel producer. However, the ‘dirty’ practices inside have made it so that the steel manufacturer is not performing well,” he said.

The KPK deputy head urged all state-owned companies to conduct transparent procurement procedures.

The steel company, which operates in Cilegon, Banten, has suffered losses for the past six years. As of the third quarter of 2018, the publicly listed company recorded a loss of $37.38 million, down 50.19 percent from the same period in the previous year.

It vowed earlier this year to restructure its business and debts in order to restore profitability.

Krakatau Steel president director Silmy Karim said he regretted that the case had occurred amid the company’s internal reform attempt.

“This case should become the opportunity to accelerate any measures of reform within Krakatau Steel,” Silmy said during a press briefing on Sunday.

“We also have been working with the KPK in terms of corruption prevention as well as the Development Finance Comptroller [BPKP],” Silmy said. He added that Krakatau Steel would assist the KPK in the latter’s investigation into the case.

The president director said the projects implicated in the case were not included in the company’s 2019 working plan. Silmy echoed Saut, who told journalists on Saturday that the procurement projects had yet to start. (das)

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