The conviction of the former president director of PT
Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), Eddie Widiono Suwondho, on Wednesday has added
to a long list of Indonesia's state-owned enterprises (SOE) bosses ending up in
jail for graft.
While SOEs are generally in
better shape and more profitable nowadays than in the past, there seems to be
no end in sight to the number of graft cases involving company executives.
There are now at least seven
more corruption cases under investigation involving former SOE president
directors, with the latest being against former state airline Merpati Nusantara
boss Hotasi Nababan by the Attorney General’s Office.
But Eddie’s case is one of the
high-profile ones, as PLN is the country’s second-largest state company by
assets after Bank Mandiri, with annual capital expenditure worth more than US$3
billion.
As the longest-serving PLN
president director, from 2001 until 2008, Eddie is known to have close ties
with the inner-circles of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, and former
vice president Jusuf Kalla.
The court sentenced Eddie to
five years’ imprisonment for a corruption case that centered on an outsourcing
procurement project for the construction of customer information systems in
Jakarta and Tangerang, Banten.
Eddie’s order to directly
appoint PT Netway Utama to handle the project was proven to have caused Rp 46
billion (US$5.01 million) in state losses.
“My decision to endorse Netway
was considered against the law, but actually the project benefited both
customers and PLN,” he said.
The court, however, failed to
uncover the flow of the embezzled money, and Eddie was not proven guilty by the
court of accepting Rp 2 billion in kickbacks for a procurement project. Nor was
it proved that he had used travelers’ checks worth Rp 850 million.
Indonesia Corruption Watch
(ICW) activist Emerson Yuntho suspected Eddie of protecting certain
high-profile figures.
“There’s no such thing as a
free lunch,” he said. “There must have been a deal or other benefits behind
it,” he said.
Graft cases at state companies
usually occurred as a result of political pressures.
For more than three decades,
the ruling political elites, along with their families and cronies, largely fed
on SOEs to secure their positions in power.
Critics have repeatedly said
SOEs will remain a cash cow to ruling politicians because of election costs
that are unusually high. No one can offer subtle loyalty in the form of
campaign funding like SOE executives, who are also vying to remain in power.
Former president director of
state gas company PT Perusahaan Gas Negara WMP Simanjuntak, who was convicted
for graft in 2010, said during his trial the amassed money was distributed to
several Golkar politicians in late 2003.
Former financial director of
state agribusiness firm PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia (RNI) Ranendra Dangin
also referred in his trial in 2006 to the flow of graft money to politicians
from the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P).
Due to the rampant corruption,
the performance of SOEs often remains below that of their counterparts in the
private sector, despite being granted various privileges.
There are currently 141 state
companies with combined assets worth more than Rp 2,510 trillion (US$278
billion) and revenue of more than Rp 1,150 trillion.
Indonesia Transparency Society
member Jamil Mubarok said the jailing of dozens of SOE bosses for graft would
not deter serving SOE executives from committing the same crimes.
“They may not learn from their
convicted colleagues, as the selection process for SOE top executives is marred
by political motivations, rather than being based on performance. The
executives feel safe because they have backup from powerful political figures,”
he said.
Ina Parlina
The Jakarta Post
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