Jakarta – Responding to the naming of state-owned electricity company PLN president director Sofyan Basir as a suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in a case involving the Riau-1 Coal Fired Power Station (PLTU), the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) is calling for the relationship between dirty energy and corrupt practices among the political elite to be exposed.
“The naming of SB as a suspect is a step forward in exposing the relationship between dirty coal energy and the corrupt practices at the level of the political elite and the government, although the KPK’s move is in fact almost 10 months late”, said Walhi energy and urban issues campaign manager Dwi Sawung in a press release received by CNN Indonesia on Thursday April 25.
The corruption case has also implicated former Golkar Party Secretary General and Social Affairs Minister Idrus Marham, House of Representatives (DPR) Commission VII chairperson and Golkar politician Eni Maulani Saragih and Blackgold Natural Resources Limited shareholder Johannes Budisutrisno Kotjo.
Sawung said that the PLTU Riau-1 corruption case shows how the construction of power stations burning coal – aside from being dirty in terms of emissions and the impact on the environment – also uses dirty business practices ridden with bribery.
Sawung said she also hopes that the KPK will not just stop with the indictment of individuals but also highlight the corporations linked to the corruption case.
“The suspects in the Riau 1 MT coal PLTU are still individual company commissioners, members of the house and the president director of PLN, but [the KPK] has still not touched the corporations who pay the bribes. Corporations such as Samantaka, Blackgold and CHEC have not been named suspects by the KPK, yet the person who bribed Johanes Kotjo could not possibly have been acting alone but [would have been] acting behalf of the company”, said Sawung.
Sawung highlighted the corruption case involving Cirebon regent Sunjaya who is currently on trial at the Bandung Corruption Court. During a hearing on April 10, said Sawung, it was revealed that Sunjaya accepted money from the Cirebon 2 PLTU via Hyundai as the principal contractor for the project.
“This case become of concern to Walhi because the location of the Cirebon 2 PLTU initially violated special planning [regulations] then [all of s sudden] it didn’t violate special planning because of revisions to the special planning by the Cirebon regency [government]. We allege that there were other parties who received money from the company to smooth the Cirebon 2 PLTU dirty energy project”, said Sawung. (kid/dea)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Soal Dirut PLN, Walhi Desak Bongkar Relasi Energi Kotor-Elite”.]
