Kaleidoscope 2023: Megacorruption BTS IDR 8 Trillion And Arrest Johnny G. Plate

JAKARTA - Minister of Communication and Information Johnny G. Plate was named a suspect by the Attorney General's Office for the corruption case of the 4G Base Transceiver Station (BTS) tower construction project and supporting infrastructure 1,2,3,4, and 5 BAKTI Kominfo in 2020-2022 on 17 May 2023.

Plate was named a suspect and immediately detained by the investigating team of the Attorney General's Office after being examined as a witness on February 14 and March 15. The arrest of this man who was born on September 10, 1956 was one of the major events that occurred in Indonesia throughout 2023.

However, the BTS corruption case that dragged the name Johnny G. Plate raises questions from the public. Is this a punishment for the National Democratic Party (Nasdem) which is starting to conflict with the ruling party? Or is it a way to reduce Nasdem's electability ahead of the 2024 General Election.

Because as is known, the party chaired by Surya Paloh is starting to be inconsistent with the government and is one of the bearers of Anies Baswedan as a presidential candidate in the 2024 election.

Johnny G. Plate himself was the Secretary General of the Nasdem Party when he was detained by the Attorney General's Office in mid-May.

Plate is not the sole suspect in this case. He and a number of people, according to the investigating team of the Attorney General's Office, were proven to have committed an unlawful act by fabricating and discriminating the project auction process.

In fact, the BTS 4G Bakti Kominfo tower construction project was carried out to provide digital services in frontier, outermost, and underdeveloped (3T) areas. The plan is for Kominfo to build 4,200 BTS towers in various parts of Indonesia.

According to the Financial and Disbursement Supervisory Agency (BPKP), corruption in the construction of the 4G BTS Kominfo caused state losses of up to Rp8,032 trillion, consisting of the cost of the preparation of legal studies, price markups, and BTS payments that had not yet been built.

On November 8, 2023, the Corruption Court, Central Jakarta, sentenced Johnny G. Plate to 15 years in prison and a fine of Rp. 1.5 billion. If he does not pay the fine, he will be replaced with 6 months in prison. Johnny also had to pay compensation of Rp. 15.5 billion or be replaced with 2 years in prison.

Regarding the allegation that the arrest of Johnny G. Plate was politically denied directly by a number of officials.

One of them is the Head of the Presidential Staff Office (KSP) Moeldoko, who emphasized that the determination of the suspect in the case was purely a legal issue. He hopes that the public will not be trapped in the issue that had strengthened.

President Jokowi also spoke up. He dismissed the issue of political intervention behind the determination of Johnny G. Plate as a suspect in the corruption case in the procurement of 4G BTS and 2020-2022 supporting infrastructure. Jokowi believes that the Attorney General's Office is working transparently in that case.

"What is clear is that the Attorney General's Office must be professional and open to all related to the case," said Jokowi at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base, on May 19.

The arrest of Johnny G. Plate adds to the length of ministers caught in corruption under the leadership of President Joko Widodo's administration, in the 2019-2024 Advanced Indonesia Cabinet.

The first minister arrested for corruption in the Jokowi era was Idrus Marham. The former Minister of Social Affairs was caught in the Independent Power Producer (IPP) project of the Riau 1 Mining Mouth Steam Power Plant (PLTU) in early July 2018. He was proven to have received a bribe of IDR 2.250 billion from businessman Johannes Budisutrisno Kotjo.

The case continues with former Minister of Youth and Sports Imam Nahwari who was sentenced to 7 years in prison and a fine of Rp. 400 million, subsidiary to 3 months in prison. Imam was proven corrupt in the bribery case for handling the proposal for KONI grants and gratuities from a number of parties from January 2018 to June 2018. He received a bribe of Rp. 11.5 billion from former Secretary General of KONI Ending Fuad Hamidy and former KONI Treasurer Johnny E Awuy.

In November 2022, it was the turn of the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Edhy Prabowo who was caught in a bribery case. Edhy was hit by a hand arrest operation (OTT) of the KPK and was deemed to have accepted bribes related to the processing of lobster cultivation permits and export of lobster fry (BBL) amounting to Rp25.7 billion from lobster exporters.

Edhy Prabowo was sentenced to nine years in prison, but after an appeal to the High Court until his appeal to the Supreme Court, his prison term was reduced to five years in prison. However, he was declared already released on August 18, 2023.

Social Minister Juliari Batubara was also caught in a corruption case on December 6, 2020. He received bribes for the procurement of social assistance packages (bansos) for COVID-19 in the Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi areas in 2020 amounting to IDR 32.48 billion. Juliari Batubara was sentenced to 12 years in prison and a fine of IDR 500 million, subsidiary to six months.