"Today, there were no questions regarding this and no statements in court; so Sofyan Basir does not know about fees, or any other matter. I am still trying to confirm what evidence is being used," Basir's lawyer Susilo Aribowo said at the Jakarta KPK building on Monday.
Basir was named a suspect in a case of alleged bribery related to the agreement on the cooperation contract for the construction of the Riau-1 PLTU on Tuesday (23/4).
According to Aribowo, as Managing Director of PT PLN, Basir cannot avoid meetings with his partners.
"The meetings exist, we cannot avoid them, 9-10 meetings are held, but what is the substance of the meetings? Nothing related to the discussion of fees," Aribowo added.
In a hearing involving Eni Maulani Saragih on December 18, 2018, at the Jakarta Corruption Court, the Public Prosecutor (JPU) of the KPK circulated a conversation between Saragih and Kotjo related to "fees" that Basir would obtain if he could pass the "Independent Power Producer" project (IPP) RIAU-1 Mine Mouth Steam Power Plant (MT RIAU-1 PLTU).
Basir allegedly helped Saragih and Kotjo receive a project cooperation contract worth 900 million US dollars, equivalent to Rp.12.8 trillion.
Basir was present at the meetings attended by Saragih, Kotjo and others to include the IPP project RIAU-1 Mine Mouth Power Plant (PLTU MT RIAU-1) PT PLN.
In 2016, despite the issuance of Presidential Regulation Number 4 of 2016 concerning the Acceleration of Electricity Infrastructure Development, which assigned PT PLN to carry out Electricity Infrastructure Development (PIK), Basir allegedly appointed Kotjo to work on the Riau-1 PLTU project because the PLTU in Java was full and there were already candidates.
Thus, the Riau-1 PLTU with a capacity of 2x300 MW was included in the PLN RUPTL. After that, it was alleged that Basir told one of the Directors of PT PLN that the "Power Purchase Agreement" (PPA) between PLN and Blackgold Natural Resources and China Huadian Engineering Co. (CHEC) would soon be realized.
The KPK has also sent a letter of prevention to Basir since April 25, 2019, for the next six months.
Translator: Eliswan Azly
Editor: Sri Haryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
