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CORRUPTION ERADICATION COMMISSION - JAKARTA. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has indicted the suspended president director of state-owned electricity company PLN, Sofyan Basir, for his alleged role in graft pertaining to the construction of a power plant in Riau.
During a hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday, KPK prosecutors accused Sofyan for deliberately facilitating meetings between politicians Idrus Marham and Eni Maulani Saragih of the Golkar Party, as well as businessman Johannes Budisutrisno Kotjo and the PLN board of directors, to accelerate deliberations for the Riau-1 coal-fired power plant (PLTU).
“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,” KPK prosecutor Budi Sarumpaet said, reading out the indictment.
The corruption court has found Johannes, a shareholder of Blackgold Natural Resources Ltd., guilty of bribing Idrus and Eni Rp 4.75 billion (US$335,456) in an attempt to secure the Riau-1 power plant project for Blackgold. The two Golkar politicians have also been convicted for bribery.
The indictment alleges that Sofyan held several meetings regarding the power plant project between 2016 and 2018 that involved different parties. During a meeting in 2016 at the Hotel Mulia Senayan in Jakarta, it alleges that Sofyan instructed Johannes to "participate" in the Riau-1 project: “You should participate in Riau. Don’t mind Java [island] because it’s already [saturated],” it quoted him as saying at the occasion.
The antigraft body in April named Sofyan as a suspect in the Riau-1 graft case. At the time of its announcement, the KPK had suspected Sofyan of accepting a bribe from Johannes in return for the rights to develop the Riau-1 power plant.
