The Attorney General's Office Is Questioned About The Case Of Alleged Corruption In The Purchase Of 15 MA60 Aircraft Which Has Stalled For Dozens Of Years

Representative Of Civil Society Coalition For Law Enforcement, Deolipa Yumara

JAKARTA - The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has been questioned regarding the progress of handling cases of alleged corruption and money laundering (TPPU) related to the purchase of 15 MA60 aircraft. This is because the case that was handled in 2011 seemed to stagnate.

"Today we met with the Jampidsus team, questioning several cases that have been handled by Pidsus, but are still in the process," said Representative of the Civil Society Coalition for Law Enforcement, Deolipa Yumara to reporters, Wednesday, September 18.

"One of them is the MA60 dove case which has been handled by Pidsus since 2011, this has been a long time, then we avoid being a cold case, we ask this," he continued.

According to him, the case, which has stalled for about 13 years, was also questioned by the Indonesian Anti-Corruption Society (MAKI) and the Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) in August 2024.

This is because this case allegedly caused state financial losses amounting to 46.5 million US dollars or around Rp 700 billion.

"They (Pidsus) said that they would re-check this case and would follow up on the case," he said.

Based on information obtained by MAKI and IPW, there was an offer to purchase MA60 aircraft from Merpati Nusantara Airlines on August 29, 2005, in the midst of the Indonesian-China Joint Commission Meeting.

Then this was followed by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Merpati Nusantara Airlines and Xian Aircraft Industry from China in 2006.

On August 5, 2008, the signing of the purchase of 15 MA60 aircraft for Merpati Nusantara Airlines between the Indonesian government and the China Exim Bank was signed.

The purchase was made with a loan disbursement system guaranteed by the government, with a policy of political budget allocation based solely on the approval of individual members of the House of Representatives Commission IX.

The price of one unit of the MA60 aircraft produced by Xian Aircraft Industry does not have a Federation Aviation Asministration (FAA) certification. The offering price turned out to be only 11.2 million US dollars.

It is suspected that there was an inflated or mark-up price to 14.3 million US dollars per unit with the purchase scheme which was originally business to business (B to B) changed and/or manipulated into government to business (G to B).

Allegedly, the modus operandi of securing money from criminal acts of corruption and money laundering offenses amounting to 46.5 million US dollars was carried out through engineering by creating a 'obscurity' broker who was confirmed as if to be the selling agent of 15 Xian Aircraft Industry aircraft.

This engineering was played by MS using PT MGGS which was allegedly based on the AH initiative, the owner of PT IMC Pelita Logistik and PT Indoprima Marine.

Based on the facts and evidence he received, Deolipa also asked the AGO to continue the alleged corruption and/or money laundering offenses in the purchase of the 15 MA60 aircraft.

"We encourage that the case of purchasing 15 MA60 aircraft units which cost the state 46.5 million US dollars can be followed up again," said Deolipa.