"We respect the judicial institution, however we were shocked by the verdict," Spokesperson of PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia (CPI) Donny Indrawan said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia is filing an appeal against a court verdict that declares its employee Kukuh Kertasafari guilty of corruption in a bioremediation project.

Spokesperson of PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia (CPI) Donny Indrawan said here on Thursday, his office is really disappointed by the court verdict.

"We respect the judicial institution, however we were shocked by the verdict," he said.

Earlier, the panel of the Jakarta corruption court`s judges sentenced Kertasafari to two years in jail in connection with the corruption case of a fictitious bioremediation project.

Kertasafari was the Coordinator of the Environmental Issue Management Team at Chevron.

Indrawan further said Chevron will fully support and back Kukuh to file an appeal to the higher court.

However, when asked about arbitrary court, Indrawan declined to comment further.

Indrawan said Chevron has full commitment to fulfilling its obligations to the state and community.

"We will follow the legal process of an appeal for ensuring that our employee will get justice, and the image of our company will be rehabilitated," he said.

He further said, there was no evidence and witness in the court, which indicated the project caused state losses, or crimes had been conducted by Kertasafari and by other Chevron employees.

"In the court, witnesses from Enviromental Ministry have stated that bioremediation is an environmental matter and was not related to corruption," he said.

Judges had also heard witnesses from Chevron, who showed a permit from the Ministry of Environment which allowed the company to carry out environment management of a project based the direction of the SKK Migas (Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Task Force).

He also said that the verdict criminalized activities that have been regulated in the civil law, thus creating doubts about the authorities of the Environment Ministry and the SKK Migas.

"The verdict was issued, ignoring government agencies` testimonies in the court sessions which stated that the law and regulations had been observed in carrying out the project," he said.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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