Peter Gontha Claims To Have Asked To Cancel The Boeing 737 Max Aircraft Lease Contract But Was Refused By The Garuda Indonesia Board Of Directors

Former Commissioner of Garuda Indonesia, Peter Gontha. (Photo: Instagram @petergontha)

JAKARTA - Former Commissioner of PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk Peter F. Gontha has spoken again on his social media. He said that he had asked Garuda Indonesia's board of directors to cancel the Boeing 737 Max lease contract, but it was rejected because the contract could not be canceled.

"Last year (2020) I asked the board of directors to cancel the contract but it didn't work because the contract couldn't be canceled for any reason," wrote Peter on his personal Instagram account @petergontha, quoted on Tuesday, November 2.

Not only that, Peter also admitted that he had asked the board of directors to sue the company that rented the plane in the United States court and asked the company's money to be returned. However, once again the request was not made by Garuda's directors.

"I asked to be sued in a United States court, and asked for the company's money to be returned, but it was not carried out, even though Boeing was already plagued by corruption," he said.

Initially, Peter told how the rental of Boeing 737 Max aircraft which was carried out in 2013-2014 could happen. He admitted that he was asked to sign a lease contract for the plane. However, the time given is very short, only 1x24 hours.

Peter admitted that he refused to give a signature regarding the lease of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft. The reason is because the total contract value is large but the time to evaluate it is only given 24 hours.

To note, when the Boeing 737 Max was leased, Garuda was under the leadership of Emirsyah Satar. He served as president director from 2005 to 2014.

"This is a Boeing 737 Max aircraft signed by the directors/commissioners of Garuda 2013/2014. I was asked to sign it, but I refused. Why? Because we were given 1x24 hours to sign it. The total contract exceeds US$3 billion for 50 aircraft. Crazy, only 24 hours," he said.

Peter said he was forced to sign the lease contract for the Boeing 737 Max. Otherwise, it will be arranged as if the purchase of the aircraft failed. As a result, he also gave his signature, but with a note that he was not given enough time for evaluation.

"Because I was forced with the reason that I had to sign, otherwise the purchase "failed". I finally signed it with a note: that we weren't given enough time for evaluation. And I was ostracized by the "directors at that time". There are still many living witnesses . Just ask! I also have a digital footprint!," he said.

Peter also said he was grateful because from the Boeing 737 Max lease contract, which should have 50 aircraft, only one unit was sent to Indonesia. Then, the plane had problems because it failed to design and even crashed.

"Finally (luckily) only one plane was delivered because the plane failed to design and crashed (Lion Air and Euthopia Air)," he said.

Because of this, Peter admitted that in 2020 he asked for the rental contact to be cancelled. However, this was not done by the directors of Garuda Indonesia.

"Now what? I don't know," he wrote.

According to Peter, SOE Minister Erick Thohir did not know how the process for leasing Boeing 737 Max aircraft in 2013-2014 was carried out. He also stated that he would inform about this directly.

"This story, the SOE may not have been informed, I have to tell you, because if not, Mr. Erick will be the one to blame!," he said.

One of the accounts named @__danisaputra commented on Peter's post. He asked whether at the time of the aircraft leasing, Chairul Tanjung was already serving as the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and knew about the Boeing 737 Max aircraft rental contract.

"At the time of signing, Mr. CT was already a minister? If he was still a minister, did Mr. CT as a shareholder of Garuda know about the contract, sir?," he wrote.

Peter also explained that at the time of signing the aircraft rental contract Chairul Tanjung had not yet served as the Coordinating Minister for the Economy. Even so, he admitted that he had reported it to Chairul Tanjung.

"Not yet minister, I report, he can only shake his head, because of the minority," replied Peter.

For your information, the corporation owned by entrepreneur Chairul Tanjung holds 28.27 percent of Garuda Indonesia's shares through Trans Airways.