Apartments Have Nothing To Do With The Procurement Process Of Garuda Airplanes

Emirsyah Satar's follow-up hearing at the Central Jakarta District Court. (Photo: By courtesy)

JAKARTA - The trial of former Garuda Indonesia Managing Directors, Emirsyah Satar and Soetikno Soedarjo was held again at the Central Jakarta District Court, Thursday, February 20. In yesterday's trial, it was revealed that long before serving as President Director of Garuda Indonesia, Emirsyah Satar already owned property in the form of an apartment in the Belmont Road area of Singapore.

The apartment was sold in 2011 and then Emirsyah Satar bought a new apartment in the Silversea area. While serving as the President Director of Garuda, Emirsyah Satar has also reported the ownership of the apartment in the "State Organizer's Wealth Report".

In 2014, Emirsyah Satar's Silversea apartment was sold to Soetikno Soedarjo and all payment obligations in the sale and purchase had been completed by Soetikno to Emirsyah Satar and the developer. So, the ownership of the Silversea apartment has legally transferred to Soetikno Soedarjo's.

Until now, there are tenants who always pay rent to Soetikno Soedarjo, so it is evident that the sale and purchase of an apartment between Emirsyah Satar and Soetikno Soedarjo is an ordinary apartment sale and purchase transaction.

It can be concluded that there is absolutely no connection between apartment ownership in Singapore and matters related to the aircraft procurement process at Garuda or money laundering.

The trial yesterday presented two witnesses from the company owned by Soetikno Soedarjo, respectively Sallyawati Rahardja as the former manager of administration and finance consulting service company Connaught Pte Ltd and secretary Soetikno Soedarjo named Tita Wahyuni.

During the trial, the two witnesses admitted that they did not know Emirsyah Satar and had never communicated or been contacted by Emirsyah Satar regarding his request for money from Soetikno Soedarjo so it was proven that Emirsyah Satar never expected, let alone contacted Soetikno Soedarjo, to get money, thanks.

"Soetikno Soedarjo through his company Connaught Pte Ltd is a commercial advisor from the Rolls Royce manufacturer and an official consultant from the European Aeronautic Defense and Space (EADS) or Airbus and Avion de Transport Regional manufacturers in the sale of their products, not an agent, representative, or intermediary or intermediary, "said Witness Sallyawati Rahardja in a statement received by VOI, Friday, February 21.

During the trial, which lasted from noon to the afternoon, it was revealed that Emirsyah had a relationship with Soetikno Soedarjo in order to obtain the best purchase price for Garuda in relation to Soetikno's position as commercial advisor and official consultant for Rolls Royce, Airbus and Avion de Transport Regional. It was then proven that Garuda indeed got the best deal from the manufacturer.

From Rolls Royce, Garuda gets engine consession or cashback worth hundreds of millions of dollars, while in the procurement of Airbus A330 aircraft, Garuda gets an airframe discount of up to US $ 97 million per unit for a total of all 21 aircraft procured.

Witness Sallyawati Rahardja in the trial also emphasized that the purchase of Mac Quaire Group bonds worth 200 thousand US dollars was Soetikno Soedarjo's personal investment and was in no way a gift to Emirsyah Satar.

The Mac Quaire Group bonds belonged to Soetikno Soedarjo and had nothing to do with Emirsyah Satar and the procurement of Bombardier aircraft at Garuda. It was proven that when the bonds were disbursed, all proceeds went to Soetikno Soedarjo's account, not given to Emirsyah Satar.