The Attorney General's Office Names 3 Suspects For Corruption In The Ministry Of Defense's Satellite

The Head of the Prosecutor's Office for Penuspenkum Ketut Sumedana (center) accompanied by the Director of Jampidmil Enforcement Brigadier General Edy Imran (left) during a press conference today. (ANTARA-Laily Rahmawati)

JAKARTA - The Junior Attorney General for Military Crime (Jampidmil) Connectivity Investigators have named three people as suspects in the alleged criminal act of the procurement project for the Satellite Orbit Orbit Slot 123 degrees East Longitude at the Ministry of Defense for the 2012-2021 period, Wednesday 15 June.

The Director of Jampidmil Enforcement at the Attorney General's Office, Brigadier General Edy Imran, said the three suspects consisted of one TNI and two civilians, namely Rear Admiral (Ret.) with the initials AP as the former Director General of Defense Forces of the Ministry of Defense for the period December 2013 to August 2016.

While the two civilians, namely the initials SCW and AW, are both President Director and President Commissioner of PT Dini Nusa Kesuma (DNK).

"After going through an investigation process of approximately 5 months, conveying who is responsible for procuring or leasing satellites at the Ministry of Defense," said Edy in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, June 15.

Edy said the suspect was determined after his party examined 47 witnesses consisting of TNI witnesses and 18 retired officers. Then there were 29 civilian witnesses and 2 requests for expert testimony.

In addition, the investigative team has also searched two private companies, in this case the PT DNK Office in the Prapanca South Jakarta area and Panin Tower Lt. 18A Senayan City Area, Central Jakarta and 1 apartment unit which is the residence of SW (President Director of PT DNK ) and collect evidence including letter evidence and electronic evidence (BBE).

Although they have been named as suspects, investigators did not arrest the three suspects because they were considered cooperative.

Meanwhile, investigators have banned the suspects, as long as the case files are prepared to be immediately transferred to the court.

As for the suspect's actions, Edy explained that Rear Admiral (Ret.) AP together with suspects SCW and AW unlawfully planned and entered into a satellite lease contract with Avanti against several laws and regulations.

"The total loss is IDR 500,579 billion which has been audited by BPKP," said Edy.

Investigators ensnared the suspect under Article 2 paragraph (1) in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended by Law No. 20 of 2001 concerning Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) of the 1st Criminal Code.

Then, Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended by Law No. 20 of 2001 concerning Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) of the 1st Criminal Code;

This project is suspected to be problematic when the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kemkominfo) fulfills the Ministry of Defense's request to obtain the right to manage the orbital slot of 123 degrees East Longitude to build a Satkomhan.

The alleged violation in the Ministry of Defense satellite project was disclosed by the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD, Thursday (13/1).

He explained that on January 19, 2015, the Garuda-1 satellite had left its orbital slot of 123 degrees East Longitude (BT), resulting in a vacancy in Indonesia's management.

Based on the regulations of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), countries that have received management rights will be given three years to refill the Orbit Slot. If not fulfilled, Slot Orbit's management rights will automatically terminate and can be used by other countries.

To fill the vacancy in managing the orbital slot of 123 degrees east longitude, said Mahfud, the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) fulfilled the request of the Ministry of Defense (Kemhan) to obtain the right to manage the orbital slot of 123 degrees east to build a defense communications satellite (Satkomhan).

The Ministry of Defense then made a lease contract for the Artemis Satellite, which is a floater (temporary satellite to fill the orbit), belonging to Avanti Communication Limited (Avanti), on December 6, 2015, although the approval for the use of the orbital slot of 123 degrees east from the Communications and Information Technology was only issued on January 29, 2016.

However, the Ministry of Defense on June 25 2018 returned the rights to manage the orbital slot of 123 degrees east longitude to Kominfo.

On December 10, 2018, Kominfo issued a decision regarding the Right to Use Indonesian Satellite Filing at 123 Degree Orbit for Garuda-2 and Nusantara-A1-A Satellite Filing to PT Dini Nusa Kusuma (PT DNK). However, PT DNK was unable to resolve the problem of the Kemhan residue in the procurement of the Satkomhan.

At the time of contracting with Avanti in 2015, the Ministry of Defense did not yet have a budget for this purpose.

To build the Satkomhan, the Ministry of Defense has also signed contracts with Navayo, Airbus, Detente, Hogan Lovel, and Telesat for the period 2015-2016, the budget for which in 2015 is not yet available.

Meanwhile, in 2016, the budget was available but the Ministry of Defense did self-blocking.

Then, Avanti sued at the London Court of International Arbitration because the Ministry of Defense did not pay the satellite lease in accordance with the contract value that had been signed.

On July 9, 2019, the arbitration court rendered a decision which resulted in the state having issued payments for the rental of the Artemis Satellite, arbitration fees, consultant fees, and satellite filing fees equivalent to Rp. 515 billion.

The government has also just received a decision from the Singapore Arbitration regarding Navayo's lawsuit. The ruling stated that the government was required to pay US$20.9 million.