The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has indicted Sofyan Basir, the suspended president director of state electricity firm PLN, for allegedly facilitating bribery in a graft case pertaining to the construction of a power plant in Riau.

The indictment states a slightly different charge from when the antigraft body named Sofyan a corruption suspect in April — a difference that was immediately slammed by the defendant’s lawyer.

During a hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday, prosecutors accused Sofyan of facilitating meetings between Golkar Party politicians Idrus Marham and Eni Maulani Saragih as well as businessman Johannes Budisutrisno Kotjo and PLN’s board of directors to push the deliberation of the coal fired power plant known as Riau-1.

“The defendant facilitated the meetings, even though he knew that Eni and Idrus would accept illicit money from Johannes [in a deviation from] their duties,” prosecutor Budi Sarumpaet read the indictment letter.

The corruption court found Johannes, a shareholder of Blackgold Natural Resources Ltd., guilty of giving Idrus and Eni Rp 4.75 billion (US$335,456) in bribes, in a bid to secure the project. Johannes was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison last year for his crime, while the court sentenced Eni in March into six years in prison for her roles in the corruption case.

In the meantime, Idrus is appealing the corruption court’s sentence at the high court. In April, the court sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment for accepting Rp 2.25 billion ($159,766) in bribes from Johannes.

According to the indictment, Sofyan held several meetings regarding the power plant project with various parties between 2016 and 2018, after Eni told him that she had been asked by former House of Representatives
speaker and Golkar chairman Setya Novanto to assist in the deliberation of the Riau-1 project.

During a meeting in 2016 at Hotel Mulia Senayan in Jakarta, Sofyan told Johannes to participate in the Riau-1 project: “You should participate in Riau. Don’t mind Java [island] because it’s already overcrowded there.”

PLTU Riau 1 is one of the power plant projects included in the government’s 35,000-megawatt (MW) electricity-generation program. The power plant is expected to generate 600 MW by 2024.

The indictment was slightly different from the charge announced by the KPK when naming him a suspect in April. The antigraft body had accused him of accepting bribes from Johannes in return for the right to develop the coal-fired power plant project.

At that time, KPK deputy chairman Saut Situmorang said investigators had secured enough evidence indicating that Sofyan had been promised the same amount of money as that given to Golkar politicians.

The difference between the charge in the indictment and the initial charge announced by the KPK was included in Sofyan’s refutation plea.

The plea was read out by his lawyers immediately after KPK prosecutors finished reading their indictment.

While reading the plea, lawyer Susilo Aribowo said prosecutors had neither mentioned the disbursement of illicit money for his client nor Sofyan’s knowledge of the bribery that was deliberated during meetings allegedly facilitated by him.

“Moreover, we also doubt the KPK’s suspicion, which highlighted our client’s [alleged] role of assisting the bribery. The defendant didn’t have control over Eni and Johannes. The crime could have occurred even though the defendant didn’t assist them,” he said.

Prosecutor Budi said the indictment against Sofyan, including the allegation against the suspended PLN president director for reportedly facilitating meetings related to the bribery, was made based on evidence and other results found during the investigation phase.

Aside from facilitating the meetings, “we will try to prove the suspicion [of accepting bribes] during the trial,” Budi said.

“However, for now we’ll focus on how [the defendant] facilitated meetings between Eni and [Johannes] Kotjo, eventually leading to the bribery.”

The bench adjourned the trial until July 1, when the prosecution’s response to the refutation will be heard.

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