CORRUPTION ERADICATION COMMISSION - JAKARTA. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has reportedly frozen the bank account, which contains Rp 60 billion (US$4.25 million), of PT Merial Esa (ME), a company named a graft suspect by the antigraft body.
The graft case involves the procurement of sea surveillance satellite systems at the Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla).
“This is part of our efforts to retrieve the profits that PT ME gained from the project,” the KPK said in a statement on Monday, adding that the money would be returned to the state.
Before naming the corporation a suspect last Friday, the KPK had previously named seven individual suspects in the case, which came to light in December 2016.
One of the seven suspects was PT ME director Fahri Darmawansyah who paid Bakamla deputy chief Eko Susilo Hadi a bribe of Rp 2 billion to win the tender, which was worth Rp 222 billion. Fahri was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison, while Eko was imprisoned for four years and three months for accepting the kickback.
Golkar Party legislator Fayakhun Andriadi was also found guilty of accepting bribes to ensure that the satellite project would be included in the revised 2016 state budget.
PT ME is the fifth corporation named a suspect by the KPK while three other companies have been named as suspects in graft cases and one in a money-laundering case.
