Garuda Indonesia, Which Was 'encroached On' By Its Own Two Top Leaders

JAKARTA - The scandal that ensnared the President Director of PT Garuda Indonesia is not the first time. Long before the smuggling of Harley Davidson motorbikes and two Brompton folding bikes by the President Director of PT Garuda Indonesia I Gusti Ngurah Askhara Danadiputra alias Ari Ashkara, Garuda Indonesia had also been rocked by a corruption case involving Emirsyah Satar.

Emir is suspected of accepting bribes from a project to procure aircraft and aircraft engines from Airbus SAS and Rolls-Royce PLC at PT Garuda Indonesia. Apart from accepting bribes, he is also suspected of committing money laundering. However, to this day, Emir, who was the former CEO of Garuda Indonesia for the 2005-2014 period, has yet to face trial.

Even though they both stumbled over the scandal, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) admitted that they had not seen any similarities between the cases that ensnared Ari Askhara and Emirsyah Satar. This is because the case that caught Ari was only discovered a few days ago and is still being investigated by the Customs and Excise Office of the Ministry of Finance.

"The similarities have not been discovered yet," said KPK deputy chairman Saut Situmorang to reporters in Jakarta, Friday, December 6.

Saut said that so far there has not been any suspicion of gratification that could ensnare Ari. The reason is that there is no element of gratification considering that the contraband in the form of a ShovelHead Harley Davidson has not yet arrived in Ari's hands. "So I think this is not a gratification," he said.

Didn't report Harley Davidson on LHKPN

In the LHKPN report submitted by Ari Askhara in 2018, it turned out that Ari did not mention that he owned a Harley Davidson. In fact, Ari is suspected of being a big fan of motorbikes produced by the United States. He only recorded three cars, namely the Pajero Sport, Mazda 6, and Lexus with a value of Rp1.3 billion.

Apart from cars, Ari is also noted to have eight plots of land spread across Bali, Jakarta, Bogor and Bekasi with a total value of IDR 23.2 billion. It is noted that Ari has other assets in the form of cash or other cash equivalents of IDR 10.4 billion, other assets of IDR 2.3 billion, and other movable assets of IDR 95 million. So, when totaled, his assets reached Rp. 37.5 billion.

KPK Deputy Chairman Laode M Syarif said it was clear that Ari was not eligible to be the Main Director of Garuda if he really had a Harley Davidson collection and did not report the ownership in the LHKPN. "If, for example, he has a lot of Harley Davidson collections, it turns out that they are not reported in the LHKPN, that means he is not eligible to be the Director of Garuda," said Syarif, Friday, December 6.

Syarif assessed that with the stumble of the previous President Director of PT Garuda Indonesia, namely Emirsyah Satar, in the case of bribery and money laundering, this should be a moment for management improvement in the future. "If now the case (Emirsyah Satar) is just about to be submitted to court, there has been another incident, so the public is disappointed," he said.

Back to the LHKPN question. Syarif suspected that Ari's big motorbike could be on behalf of someone else. This is because the mode of using people's names in assets owned by state officials is a common thing. Moreover, when shipping Harley Davidson and Brompton bicycles, Ari used someone else's name, namely the name of the employee.

"Yesterday, at the time of delivery, it didn't seem like his name, yes. (Delivery) Using someone else's name. Indeed, there are many modes like that," he said.

Previously, the Customs and Excise officer of Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Tangerang, had the scandal over the fake spare parts when they checked the plane that had just landed from France and immediately entered the Hangar 4 Garuda Indonesia Maintanance Facility on November 17.

During the inspection, customs and excise officers found 18 boxes labeled with passenger luggage. This box was also not reported on flight GA9721, which was known to carry 22 VIP passengers and 10 cabin crew. After being unloaded, the 18 boxes in the passenger trunk turned out to be containing large Harley Davidson motorbike spare parts, two packages containing Brompton bikes, and spare parts for the plane.

In the aftermath of this discovery, BUMN Minister Erick Thohir then fired Ari Ashkara and in the future, the investigation of this case will continue to be carried out to ensnare all those who took part in the smuggling. "With that, I in the BUMN ministry will dismiss the President Director of Garuda," said Erick in a press conference at the Ministry of Finance Office, Central Jakarta, Thursday, December 5.