Ari Askhara Named Suspect Of Harley And Brompton Smuggling

Ilustrasi (Ilham Amin / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Directorate General (Ditjen) of Customs and Excise has appointed Ari Askhara as the former President Director of Garuda as a suspect in the smuggling of Harley-Davidson and Brompton bicycles.

Head of the Customs and Excise Communication and Publication Sub-directorate, Haryo Limanseto said, Ari Askhara was determined based on the results of the examination of witnesses and existing evidence.

"Yeah, right. We set it in early September," said Haryo to VOI, Friday, October 2.

Determination of this suspect, said Haryo, took a long time because investigators were plagued by the COVID-19 pandemic that has been going on since March. Moreover, determining a suspect requires a lot of information from experts.

"At the beginning of the pandemic period, (investigation) was stopped but in the end it was continued for expert examination as supporting evidence," he said.

Some of the experts examined included criminal, customs, and transportation experts.

Apart from Ari, investigators have also named another suspect. "There are two suspects AA and IJ. IJ is a director," he said.

The smuggling of Harley-Davidson and Brompton bicycles using Garuda Indonesia aircraft took place in December 2019.

Ari Askhara is suspected of being the mastermind behind the smuggling of Harley-Davidson and Brompton bikes brought from France.

The case was revealed by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani and BUMN Minister Erick Thohir. Erick Thohir then fired a number of directors who were allegedly involved in this case, including Ari Askhara, the managing director at the time.