"Please look into the purchase of the Sukhoi planes," he said after a plenary meeting of the Committee for Defense Industry Policies (KKIP), here on Tuesday.
He said the purchase of Sukhoi jet fighters has passed through a series of tightly-controlled processes involving two supervisory bodies; the high level committee (HLC) led by the deputy defense minister and the consulting team for the prevention of irregularities in the purchase of goods and services.
But if the KPK believes that there have been irregularities in the purchase of the planes, the defense ministry will allow the anti-graft body to investigate it, he added.
Asked to comment on an allegation that PT. Trimarga Rekatama has acted as a purchase agent, he said that the company has nothing to do with the Defense Ministry.
He also said that the ministry only had contact with JSC Rosoboronexport, which is the official representative of the Russian government in the purchase of the war planes.
"There are only two parties in the contract, namely JSC Rosoboronexport and the Defense Ministry," he said.
Responding to a difference in prices between the purchase contracts in 2007 and 2012, he said the difference is normal. "The span of time between the two contracts is 5 years so there has to be a price change."
The purchase of war planes should not be seen merely from the contract value but also from extra contract value, such as 12 machines, spare parts and technical coaching, he said.
Earlier, the deputy chairman of the House of Representatives (DPR)`s Commission I on defense affairs, TB Hasanuddin suspected that the purchase of Sukhois had involved a broker.
He said there were rumors that the defense ministry had concluded the purchase contract not through Rosoboronexport, the official representative of the Russian government, but an export credit through PT X firm as a broker.
Hasanuddin said based on a release by Rosoboronexport, the price of a Sukhoi SU 30 MK2 in July 2011 was around US$60-70 million.
The price of a Sukhoi bought previously was only US$55 million, or around US$420 million for four Sukhois.
The defense ministry has bought six Sukhoi Su-30 MK2 jet fighters from Russia.
(T.S037/Uu.S012/INE)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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