Former Garuda CEO gets jail for Rolls graft

Former Garuda CEO gets jail for Rolls graft

Indonesian engine procurement scandal part of broader case that also included Thai Airways

A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A330 prepares to land at Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Jakarta. (Reuters File Photo)
A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A330 prepares to land at Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Jakarta. (Reuters File Photo)

JAKARTA: An Indonesian court on Friday jailed a former chief executive of Garuda Indonesia for bribery and money laundering related to procurement of planes and engines from Airbus and Rolls-Royce, his lawyer said.

Luhut Pangaribuan said that his client, Emirsyah Satar, had been given an eight-year sentence and fined S$2 million ($1.4 million) by the country’s corruption court.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) had indicted Satar, who served as CEO of Garuda from 2005 to 2014, over payments from a businessman via a third party for the procurement by Garuda of Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines and Airbus A320 and A330 planes.

The indictment also related to the procurement of Airbus planes for PT Citilink Indonesia, a unit of Garuda.

In 2017 Rolls-Royce agreed to pay authorities more than US$800 million to settle charges after an investigation by the US Justice Department and Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into alleged bribery of officials in six countries in schemes that lasted more than a decade.

Those countries included Thailand, where some $18.8 million paid by Rolls-Royce to “regional intermediaries” ended up in the pockets of “agents of the State of Thailand and employees of Thai Airways”, the SFO said at the time.

The National Anti-Counter Corruption Commission (NACC) is still investigating the allegations.

Airbus in February this year agreed to pay a record $4 billion in fines after reaching a plea bargain with prosecutors in Britain, France and United States over alleged bribery and corruption stretching back at least 15 years.

Satar, who had previously denied wrongdoing, will decide next week whether to appeal against his sentence, said Pangaribuan. 

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