Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has named former president director of state-owned airline company Garuda Indonesia, Emirsyah Satar, a suspect in a case of alleged bribery related to the purchase of aircraft engines from the UK company, Rolls Royce, local media reports said.
Emirsyah served as the chief executive of Garuda for a decade through 2014, overseeing a debt restructuring and an initial public offering that allowed it to expand its fleet to 134 aircraft. He
is currently the chairman of Indonesian Lippo Group’s MatahariMall.com.
In response to allegations, Garuda Indonesia has issued a statement, saying the case was disconnected from the airline.
Far-reaching fraud network
A report in Tempo, a leading Indonesian newspaper, said that the KPK has frozen the bank accounts owned by Emirsyah, following investigations conducted by the KPK and the Corrupt Practices
Investigation Bureau (CPIB) of Singapore. As the bribery case involved several countries, the KPK joined forces with the British Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Singaporean CPIB to expose the
case. The British indictment includes the example of one individual in Indonesia receiving $2.25 million and a Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit car from the company, which has admitted to paying bribes
to secure contracts in countries including Thailand, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Angola and Iraq.
Emirsyath denies bribery allegations
The KPK obtained evidence in the form of communication records and banking transaction records. The ex-Garuda Indonesia president director allegedly received a bribe worth €1.2 million and
US$180,000 as well as valuable goods worth US$2 million parked in Indonesia and Singapore.
In a phone message to Reuters, Emirsyah on Thursday denied wrongdoing but said that it was the right of the KPK to name him as a suspect and that he will respect the legal process.
"As far as I know, when I was the CEO of PT Garuda Indonesia, I had never done corrupt activities and I did not receive anything that was related to my position," he said.
Thai Airways is further RR bribing candidate
According to Bloomberg, Rolls-Royce has won approvals in the UK and the U.S. for settlements after it said it would pay US$800 million in total to resolve bribery probes in both countries as well
as Brazil.
Meanwhile, Thailand's flagship airline on Thursday said it had launched a probe into revelations that Rolls-Royce paid millions of dollars in bribes to win contracts, including to airline
employees and government officials. Thai investigators found some US$36 million in bribes and incentives were paid between 1991 and 2005 to intermediaries - including "agents of the State of
Thailand and employees of Thai Airways" - to help the company win lucrative jet engine deals.
Nol van Fenema