There Was No Intervention In The Process Of Procuring Aircraft, Emirsyah Satar Asked For A Relief From Punishment

Former President Director of Garuda Indonesia, Emirsyah Satar. (Photo: By courtesy)

JAKARTA - Former President Director of PT Garuda Indonesia Tbk, Emirsyah Satar, while conveying an apology for the mistake he had committed, asked the Panel of Judges for the fairest possible leniency for the demands submitted by the Public Prosecutor (JPU). Emir said this was related to no state loss to Garuda Indonesia, and the airline was actually successful in making a profit and survived the bankruptcy, and all witnesses stated that Emirsyah Satar had no intervention in the procurement of aircraft at Garuda Indonesia.

The case involving Rolls Royce in England which was investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) was declared to have been closed because there was insufficient evidence and it was not in the public interest.

This includes the defense (pledoi) delivered by the former President Director of Garuda Indonesia, Emirsyah Satar, during a hearing that was held online last Thursday, April 30.

In one part of his defense, Emirsyah Satar - as conveyed by the witnesses - emphasized that he had never intervened or directed procurement at Garuda Indonesia, and he did not know and intended to carry out money laundering.

Procurement decisions at Garuda Indonesia have always been taken by the Board of Directors based on suggestions from the team in official meeting forums, and approval has been sought from the Board of Commissioners because everyone is committed to raising Garuda Indonesia.

"So it is not true that the procurement is already detrimental to Garuda Indonesia or is inefficient. Because the whole process has made Garuda always get cheaper prices and profits, so it can be ascertained that there will be no state losses in this case," said Emir in a statement received by VOI. , Sunday May 3.

Some of the benefits obtained by Garuda Indonesia include Engine Concession cash back from Rolls Royce worth US $ 26.6 million per aircraft purchased and using Rolls Royce engines and a 54 percent discount from Airbus and 72 percent from Rolls Royce for each Airbus aircraft unit. A-330. So that the price of the A-330 aircraft obtained by Garuda is 81.32 million US dollars, far below the discounted price of 171.95 million US dollars.

Emirsyah Satar also expressed his regret over the case. According to him, if time could be turned back, he would choose not to serve as the President Director of Garuda Indonesia, because his mistake had disappointed all Indonesian people, and especially their families and relatives.

In 2005, Emirsyah Satar was asked by the Minister of BUMN, Sugiharto to return to Garuda Indonesia and save him from the brink of bankruptcy. At that time, Emirsyah Satar was comfortable with his position as Deputy President Director of Bank Danamon.

After being asked three times by the Minister of BUMN, with the spirit of wanting to serve the country and develop Garuda Indonesia to become a world-class company, Emirsyah Satar finally accepted the offer.

Garuda Indonesia aircraft. (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

In 2005, Garuda Indonesia was in a state of near bankruptcy. Unlike at its heyday with a value of billions of US dollars and being able to IPO in 2011 with a company valuation of 1.8 billion US dollars or Rp18 trillion, where the country received Rp4.7 trillion by releasing 26 percent of shares during an initial public offering (IPO). ).

In 2005, Garuda's debt reached 800 million US dollars and the company's cash was not sufficient to cover operations, including paying employee salaries, and creditors threatened to confiscate the aircraft, meaning that Garuda's value was negative.

On the other hand, aircraft utilization is not optimal because the engine maintenance system is inefficient and expensive, resulting in poor on-time performance, which means Garuda Indonesia aircraft often experience delays.

Through the "Quantum Leap" transformation program implemented by Emirsyah Satar during his leadership at Garuda Indonesia, in addition to successfully bringing the airline back into profit, Emirsyah Satar has also made Garuda a world-class airline, where Garuda has succeeded in becoming a "five star airline" (5 star airlines).

Garuda Indonesia is also an airline with the best cabin crew (world's best cabin crew), world's best economy class, Garuda is the first Indonesian flight to receive international safety standards from IOSA (international operational safety audit). Garuda Indonesia has also succeeded in becoming a member of the international aviation alliance "Skyteam" along with 19 other world airlines.

Emirsyah Satar in his pledoi also apologized for his mistake and was ready to take responsibility but he stated that not everything that was said in the Charges was true so he asked for leniency.

Emirsyah Satar admitted that he did not know and did not intend to carry out money laundering and never left money with Soetikno Soedarjo. In addition, he also stated that he had not made a back-to-back loan as alleged, because the house in Permata Hijau which was placed as credit collateral at the bank was legal property and he had purchased it in 2004 before serving at Garuda Indonesia.

So, according to him, it is not true that the house was the result of land exchange or was purchased using a fee from procurement at Garuda.

Meanwhile, the sale and purchase of Silversea apartments in Singapore between Emirsyah Satar and Soetikno is a real transaction, not a fictitious transaction, all payment for maintenance costs and the receipt of apartment rent was done by Soetikno Soedarjo and Emirsyah had already issued the apartment from his LHKPN.