KBC's ex-executive to be tried in Jakarta court
Thursday, January 26 2006 - 01:49 AM WIB
Chief prosecutor at the Jakarta office of the council for prosecution said in Jakarta Wednesday that McKutchen who is now living in the United States would be tried without his presence.
"The dossier of the charge against the defendant will soon be sent to the Central Jakarta court," he said. The former executive of KBC was accused of being involved in the US$43.1 million corruption charge against the company.
Earlier reports said that Priyanto and Syafei Sulaiman, former senior officials of state oil and gas company Pertamina charged of being involved in the alleged corruption in Karaha Bodas case had been freed by the South Jakarta district court for lacks of evidence.
The judge said that the court had found no evidence that the two defendants had given the approval for the Work Program and Budget proposed by KBC during the period of between 1995 and 1998 when the company was constructing its geothermal power plant in West Java.
According to the due diligence audit, made by PT Elektro Konsult, the company had marked up the value of the project, causing a loss to the state of about US$43.1 million. The audit was made after Karaha Bodas demanded compensation from Pertamina.
Karaha Bodas sued Pertamina on the behalf of the government through the International Arbitrary for the suspension of its geothermal project in Karaha, West Java in 1997. In 2000, Pertamina were then asked to pay a compensation of US$261 million but the state-owned oil and gas company refused to settle the payment. The amount of the claim has swelled to over US$300 million due to the accumulation of interest and penalty.
Pertamina refused to pay the compensation and instead charged the company of being involved in corruption practices. (*)