PLN chief detained in corruption case
Thursday, May 4 2006 - 12:13 AM WIB
The arrest warrant for Eddie was issued after he was questioned from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said.
?Investigators found sufficient preliminary evidence in the case,? Anton replied when asked about Eddie?s detention.
Eddie had met three of four summonses issued by investigators of the government?s interdepartmental anticorruption team for questioning as a suspect at National Police Headquarters.
The police also interrogated him seven times previously before naming him a suspect.
?There is the possibility that the number of suspects will increase,? Anton said without elaborating.
PLN human resources director Djuanda Nugraha Ibrahim also was questioned Wednesday as a witness in the same graft case. He has been appointed to oversee PLN?s operations during Eddie?s detention.
Eddie?s lawyer Maqdir Ismail questioned the arrest of his client, saying it did not comply with legal requirements because the PLN chief was fully cooperative with the investigators.
He said his team of lawyers would soon file a request for the suspension of the detention order.
Eddie was questioned about illegally marking up the cost of three gas-fired generators bought for the Borang power plant in Palembarig, South Sumatra, and the Muara Tawar power plant in Bekasi, West Java.
Anton said Eddie was detained only for his alleged role in the graft case, concerning Borang, with investigators alleging the cost of their two generators were marked up by Rp 122 billion.
In the Muara Tawar project, Eddie was questioned. about allegedly hiking the price of another generator and of irregular contract tendering.
Maqdir argued that the graft case was based on a draft report by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) in 2004, which alleged there were irregularities in PLN?s operations.
He said the BPK later revised the report to state there were no irregularities in the company. (*)