T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has charged Emirsyah Satar with bribery and money laundering, accusing the former president director of Garuda Indonesia of accepting multiple bribes totaling Rp 49.3 billion (US$3.1 million) during his term from 2005 to 2014.

The KPK has brought the charge against Emirsyah under Article 12 of the Corruption Law, which prohibits civil servants and public administrators from accepting bribes, reported antaranews.com.

“[We ask the court] to sentence the defendant to 12 years in prison and a fine of Rp 10 billion, [or an additional] eight months’ imprisonment if the defendant fails to pay the fine,” KPK prosecutor Ariawan Agustiartono read out the indictment during the virtual hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Thursday.

Ariawan also demanded that Emirsyah be sentenced to pay S$2.11 million ($1.48 million) in restitution or serve an additional five years in prison.

The KPK accused Emirsyah of accepting Rp 8.8 billion, $882,200, 1 million euro ($1.08 million) and S$1.18 million in bribes on five separate occasions, receiving the illicit money from British engineering company Rolls-Royce in connection with the procurement of aircraft parts and from European aviation giant Airbus in connection with aircraft procurement, as well as other sources.

The indictment also named former Garuda engineering and fleet management director Hadinoto Soedigno and former Garuda executive project manager Agus Wahjudo as Emirsyah’s co-conspirators under the bribery charge.

Under the charge of money laundering, the KPK accused Emirsyah of laundering Rp 87.4 billion through multiple channels and also implicated Soetikno Soedarjo, the former president director of diversified retail holding company PT Mugi Rekso Abadi (MRA).

The antigraft body stated that some of the money was changed into several different foreign currencies and transferred to multiple overseas bank accounts in violation of Article 3 of the Money Laundering Law.

Ariawan added that other sums were laundered through debt repayments and a variety of property schemes. These schemes included a home renovation project in South Jakarta, mortgage payments on an apartment in Melbourne, Australia, home credit assurance for a South Jakarta property, and an ownership transfer for an apartment in Singapore.

In a separate bribery trial on Thursday that charged Soetikno with violating Article 5 of the Corruption Law, the KPK presented a sentencing demand of 10 years in prison, a fine of Rp 10 billion and $14.6 million, as well as 11.5 million euro in restitution.

The KPK initially charged Emirsyah with bribery in 2017, but he was not detained until the commission laid a second charge of money laundering against him in August 2019. The KPK also detained Soetikno that same month, and concluded its investigations into the two suspects in December 2019. (mfp)