Coordinating Minister For Political, Legal And Security Affairs Mahfud MD Asks BPKP To Audit The Office Of Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto

Mahfud MD/Photo: Antara

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD asked the Finance and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) to conduct a specific purpose audit (ATT) related to the procurement of the 123 East Longitude Orbit Satellite at the Ministry of Defense (Kemhan) led by Prabowo. Subianto.

"The government took this legal step after going through in-depth and comprehensive considerations until a specific purpose audit (ATT) was carried out, not just a regular audit by the BPKP," said Mahfud in his statement, in Jakarta, Monday, January 17.

As a result, he continued, it was found that there was an alleged violation of the provisions of the laws and regulations which then harmed the state's finances and could potentially continue to harm the state's finances.

The Indonesian government, he explained, had paid Avanti's lawsuit amounting to Rp515 billion based on the Arbitration decision in London in 2019. In fact, in 2021 the Indonesian government received another bill of 21 million US dollars based on the Singapore Arbitration decision on Navayo's lawsuit.

"Based on the results of an audit conducted by BPKP, most of the goods received from Navayo were suspected to be smuggled because the Import Declaration Document was not found at Customs," said the Minister of Defense under President Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur).

"Meanwhile, goods equipped with documents are only worth around Rp. 1.9 billion or around 132,000 US dollars. I appreciate the opinions voiced by various parties with all the pros and cons. Right now we are just following the ongoing legal process in accordance with legal provisions," said Mahfud.

Until this legal process, Mahfud explained, the government had discussed it with various related parties. Not just once or twice, but many times.

Previously, Mahfud said President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) requested that the matter be immediately brought to the realm of criminal justice.

“The Minister of Communication and Information agrees, the Minister of Finance is excited. Defense Minister Prabowo and TNI Commander Andika firmly said that this should be punished," he said.

In fact, the Minister of Defense and the Commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces firmly said that there should be no privileges for corruption from any institution. All must comply with the law.

"I spoke with the Attorney General, who turned out to be firmly prepared to investigate this case," said Mahfud.