Lino files pretrial motion

JAKARTA. Former president director of state-owned port operator PT Pelindo II, Richard Joost Lino, who has been named a suspect in a corruption case related to the company’s procurement of three quay container cranes, has filed a pretrial motion with the South Jakarta District Court on Monday to challenge his status as a graft suspect, his lawyer said.

"We submitted the request to the South Jakarta District Court earlier today," Lino’s lawyer Maqdir Ismail confirmed on Monday evening.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named Lino a graft suspect in the crane procurement case on Dec. 18.

Lino is accused of enriching himself by violating standard procedures and directly appointing Chinese company Wuxi Huadong Heavy Machinery Co Ltd (HDHM) as the supplier of the three cranes in 2010.

Maqdir claimed that his client had not broken the law, abused his authority or committed any act that caused state losses.

"He has been named a suspect but there is still no calculation of the state losses that his actions are suspected to have caused. How can he be named a suspect with no calculation of the state losses?" Maqdir said.

On Monday, the KPK questioned two witnesses: Dedi Iskandar, a senior official at Pelindo II’s planning and business development II sub-directorate, and Mashudi Sanyoto, the technical operations director of state-owned port equipment service company PT Jasa Peralatan Pelabuhan Indonesia (JPPI), in its investigation into the case.

Maqdir said he had asked the antigraft body to postpone its questioning of Lino as he had filed a pretrial motion challenging his status as a graft suspect. Maqdir said the exact schedule of

Lino's questioning was not yet known.

"We have asked [them] to postpone it and not summon him for questioning," said Maqdir.

The lawyer claimed that Lino had directly appointed the Chinese company to procure the cranes as previous attempts to acquire the equipment had failed 10 times.

Following those failures, Pelindo directors had no choice but to use their right to appoint a party to carry out the procurement, Maqdir said.

KPK spokeswoman Yuyuk Andriati said the organization was ready to face the pretrial motion.

"The KPK is ready to face the proposed pretrial hearing," Yuyuk said on Monday evening.

Lino is being charged under Article 2 and possibly Article 3 of Law No. 31/1999 on corruption eradication and Article 55 of the Criminal Code.