Former PLN manager sentenced to 11 years

JAKARTA. The Medan District Court on Monday sentenced the former general manager of state-owned electricity company PT PLN North Sumatra, Albert Pangaribuan, to 11 years in prison for corruption relating to flame tube purchases worth Rp 23.62 billion (US$2.07 million).

The defendant was also obliged to pay a fine of Rp 200 million.

The sentence matched that demanded by the prosecutors, but the fine was half the amount sought.

The panel of judges also decided that the defendant was not guilty of violating the primary charge of Article 2 (1) of Law No 31/1999 on corruption, but found him guilty of violating the subsidiary charge of Article 3 (1) of the same law.

“The defendant is proved guilty of violating the subsidiary charge and is sentenced to 11 years in prison and a fine of Rp 200 million,” presiding judge SB Hutagalung said as he read out the verdict on Monday.

Member judge Kemas Ahmad Jauhari, however, presented a dissenting opinion, saying the defendant should have also been charged with violating the primary charge.

Incriminating factors, according to the panel of judges, included the fact that the corruption committed had caused North Sumatra to experience an electricity crisis in the form of rolling blackouts.

The defendant was also considered to have not regretted his actions as he pleaded not guilty.

The judges said the defendant had misappropriated his authority in the purchase of flame tubes for the electric generator in Belawan.

He was guilty because he had appointed CV Sri Makmur as the winner of the bid for the 2007 project.

The head of CV Sri Makmur, who was still at large, had supplied two units of flame tubes of a 130 megawatt (MW) capacity using PLN’s 2007-2009 budget worth Rp 23.62 billion.

When operated, however, the flame tubes could only generate 60 MWs.

This was because one of the flame tube machines was already damaged and in a rusty condition.

The damage to the machine, according to the judges, had led to damage in the turbine of the Belawan generator, which later caused rolling blackouts in North Sumatra.

Responding to the verdict, Albert said he would appeal. (Apriadi Gunawan)