Two defendants in KBC case freed by court

Priyanto and Syafei Sulaiman, former senior officials of state oil and gas company Pertamina charged of being involved in an alleged corruption in Karaha Bodas case have been freed by the South Jakarta district court for lacks of evidence, Bisnis Indonesia reported Wednesday.

"The court has found that two defendants are not guilty. And the two have been acquitted of all the charges addressed to them," Cicut Sutiarso, the chief judge trying the two defendants Tuesday.

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 PT Karaha Bodas Company 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$43.10 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. (*)