House to form special investigation team on independent power producer
Friday, February 25 2000 - 02:03 AM WIB
The House of Representatives plans to form a special investigation team over alleged bribery made by Germany's Siemens when the state electricity firm PLN signed an agreement to purchase power from the Paiton II independent power producer.
Siemens is a co-owner of the Paiton II project.
Head of the House commission VIII on energy and mining Pamono Anung said that investigation team would be set up next week.
He said that there was strong indication of corruption in the signing of the power supply contract which was made in Germany by then PLN president Djiteng Marsudi who admitted that he was under pressure at the time to sign the contract.
The contract was forced to be signed in Germany when the former authoritarian president Soeharto made a visit to that country. Contract signing ceremony was attended by both Soeharto and former German leader Helmut Khol.
PLN has suffered huge losses due to its contract with several independent power producers. The government is seeking to renegotiate the contract.(*)