Witness Calls BTS 4G BAKTI Kominfo Project Mangkrak

The follow-up trial of the alleged 4G BTS corruption at the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court, Monday, August 14. (Between)

JAKARTA - Project Director of Consultant Office, Gandhy Tungkot Hasudungan Situmorang said the 4G base transceiver station (BTS) project for the Telecommunication and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI), Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kemenkominfo) was stalled.

He is one of the witnesses presented by the public prosecutor (JPU) at the follow-up trial of the alleged 4G BTS corruption case at the Corruption Court (Tipikor) at the Central Jakarta District Court (Jakpus), Monday, August 14.

Initially, the defendant's legal adviser asked Gandhy about the project management office (PMO) report which stated that there were a number of 4G BTS sides that did not have progress or stalled.

"This is a report made by PMO for September 28, 2022, for Package 1 and Package 2, Phase 1, there are 307 side stalled. Do you remember?" asked the legal adviser.

"Yes, I remember. It has not been progress," answered Gandhy.

Gandhy admitted that he did not really know the number of stalled sides, but he confirmed that there were a number of sides that did not work on the project.

Gandhy explained that as PMO, his party has the authority to report conditions that occur in the field regarding the development of the construction of the 4G BTS tower.

"What is certain is that we only report the conditions on the ground. If there is no movement, there is no progress, we report that there is no progress on the side-side or it can be called stalled," he said.

Legal advisers then asked Gandhy whether or not there was a difference between the unfinished side and the side that ended stalled.

"Brother in December 2021, you mentioned that the work has not been completed. Isn't it different between not finished and stalled?" asked the legal adviser

"If it's not finished yet, there is a process. If it's stalled, it's progress there, it doesn't move," said Gandhy.

"So it's different, right, between the unfinished work and the stalled one?" The legal adviser again asked to make sure. "Yes," said Gandhy.

Over the stalled side, Gandhy admitted that PMO had asked providers or consortiums working on projects to complete their work

"We have a show cause meeting, it's based on the delay they did, the deviation was for three times, both in 2021 and 2022, for the progress we also asked them to finish," he said.

"However, we do not interact directly with those who work in the field, we are more about the consortium. Then, after the show cause meeting we also prepared a warning," continued Gandhy.

He said that from the inputs and warnings given, there were some sides that were back on track and some did not.

On the other hand, Gandhy also mentioned that there are various obstacles that hinder the work of 4G BTS. The obstacles, he said, ranged from the COVID-19 pandemic to the field dynamics and the difficulty of access to the 4G BTS development side.

"Because if there are restrictions on COVID-19, sir, so that it limits whether it is in delivery, manufacturing or work in the field," he said.

"Then there is also a security issue that we refer to as a kamar area, where there is a security issue, so we cannot send a team to the field because of security issues," he continued.

Gandhy further explained that to find out the progress of project work, PMO found out from reports sent by consortiums or providers.

"Based on reports from providers, in the form of photos, such as that," he said.

Then, the defendant's legal adviser asked how PMO ensured the objectivity or validity of the report submitted by the consortium.

"So, we do that based on the photos sent, we think that the photos they sent are photos that are recognized as validity. For the next, for example, we want to validate as well, we use the results of the measurements, sir," said Gandhy.

At this trial, Gandhy sat as a witness along with three other experts.

They are Radio Experts of PT Paradita Infra Nusantara, Avrinson Budi Hotman Simarmata; Expert Project Manager Unit BAKTI, Maryulis; and Transmission Expert Roby Dony Prahmono.

The four witnesses were presented to the accused Commissioner of PT Solitech Media Sinergy Irwan Hermawan, President Director of PT Mora Telematika Indonesia Galumbang Menak Simanjuntak, and Account Director of PT Huawei Tech Investment Mukti Ali.