Recalling Emirsyah Satar, Former Director Of Garuda Indonesia Who Is Being Targeted By Attorney General ST Burhanuddin

Emirsyah Satar. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The name of the Director of Garuda Indonesia for the 2005-2014 period, Emirsyah Satar, has again surfaced in the alleged corruption case in the procurement of the ATR 72-600 aircraft for the national airline Garuda Indonesia.

Emirsyah Satar himself had previously been implicated in corruption cases in the procurement of aircraft and engines from Airbus and Rolls-Royce. He has been a prisoner in Sukamiskin Prison since February 2021 and will serve 8 years in prison after being found guilty.

As previously reported, the Attorney General's Office received a report on alleged corruption in the procurement of the ATR 72-600 aircraft from the Minister of SOEs, Erick Thohir. The report is currently under investigation.

Attorney General ST Burhanuddin said that the leasing of the ATR 72-600 aircraft was carried out in the era of Emirsyah Satar's leadership.

"The ATR72-600 (occurred) during the ES era and he is now in detention," he said at a press conference at the Attorney General's Office, Tuesday, January 11.

Burhanuddin ensured that the report on the alleged corruption in the procurement of the ATR 72-600 aircraft would be developed to the root of the problem. He also promised to finish it until Garuda is completely clean.

"If development is certain and God willing it will not stop here, we will develop it until Garuda is really clean," he said.

Based on the results of a preliminary investigation, the Attorney General's Office indicated that there was an alleged mark-up on the rental of Garuda aircraft which resulted in state financial losses. The allegation is based on the Company's Long Term Plan (RJPP) 2009-2014.

Garuda is known to plan to procure an additional 64 aircraft. The addition of the aircraft was carried out using either a purchase (financial lease) and lease (operational lease buy back) scheme through the lessor.

The issuer with the stock code GIAA will pay the lessor through a payment scheme in stages taking into account the delivery time against inflation.

Then in its realization, the RJPP was carried out by presenting several types of aircraft, namely ATR 72-600 as many as 50 units. The details are the purchase of 5 units and the rental of 45 units. Then, 18 units of CRJ 1000 aircraft, consisting of the purchase of 6 units and the rental of 8 units.

In the case of Airbus and Rolls-Royce

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) conducted an investigation into a corruption case at the Garuda Indonesia airline in 2017. There are three people who have been charged by the KPK for bribery in the procurement of aircraft and aircraft engines, and money laundering.

The three people are the former President Director of PT Garuda Indonesia, Emirsyah Satar; the founder of PT Mugi Rekso Abadi (MRA) and the Beneficial Owner of Connaught International Pte ltd Soetikno Soedarjo; and former Technical Director of PT Garuda Indonesia, Hadinoto Soedigno.

The KPK has also executed Emirsyah Satar to Sukamiskin Prison on February 3, 2021, after his appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court (MA). He was sentenced to serve 8 years in prison.

In addition to imprisonment for 8 years, Emirsyah Satar is also required to pay a fine of Rp1 billion, subsidiary to 3 months in prison.

The Jakarta Corruption Court stated that Emirsyah Satar was proven guilty of accepting bribes worth Rp49.3 billion and theft of money worth around Rp87.464 billion. He was convicted of accepting bribes from Airbus SAS, Rolls-Royce PLC, Avions de Transport Regional (ATR), and Bombardier Inc.