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MEGAWATI SHARES THE BLAME ON SUKHOI FIASCO: MINISTER

The Jakarta Post, Onboard presidential airplane | Sun, 03/25/2012 11:51 PM

Feeling pressured over mounting calls for an investigation into the alleged irregularities surrounding the 2011 procurement of six Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jets, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has asked law enforcers to also probe his predecessor Megawati Soekarnoputri who initiated the use of Sukhoi in 2003.

While defending Yudhoyono’s decision to continue buying the jets since he entered office in 2004, Cabinet Secretary Minister Dipo Alam instead said that the procurement of the jets under Megawati’s administration had breached numerous norms and law.

“The deal was that we bought 4 Sukhoi jets using a controversial counter-trade deal where Russia received commodities, which was dominated by crude palm oil [CPO], to pay the purchase,” Dipo, who at the time of the deal was a deputy for the Coordinating Economy Minister, told reporters on Sunday.

“Yudhoyono, who was the Coordinating Political and Security Affairs Minister, did not also have many roles in the dubious deal. How could a purchase of jet fighters be made while the then State Budget did not have any allocated funds for that?”

Dipo was speaking at an impromptu press conference onboard the Garuda Indonesia’s Airbus A330 cabin during a presidential flight from Hong Kong to Seoul. According to him, Megawati asked the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) to lend US$26 million to pay the down payment for the jet fighters. This, according to Dipo, had been clearly against the 2003 State Budget.

“The government at that time eventually disbursed the tactical budget, which was allocated for disaster management, to repay Bulog, which was even more irregular. Had the tsunami had happened in 2003, we would not had had enough money to handle it,” Dipo said.

On Saturday, President Yudhoyono said he would not hamper any investigation into the alleged markup in the procurement of Sukhoi jet fighters provided it included the entire purchasing process dating back to before he entered office in 2004.

"I understand what happened in the past [regarding the procurement] but did not want to delve into the past. “However, since this issue has been brought up, go ahead and investigate it in its entirety from when we first procured the jets," Yudhoyono told Indonesian journalists in Beijing before departing for Hong Kong.

In December 2011, the government proceeded to buy six Sukhoi Su-30MKKs worth US$470 million to complete the Indonesian Air Force's Sukhoi squadron. However, lawmakers and civil society suggest that the 2011 procurement involved a markup and corrupt practices. Lawmaker TB Hasanuddin from Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), for example, has repeatedly questioned the government's decision to use export credit after the Russian government had offered a state credit facility, which he said would be much easier to repay.

Activists also question the alleged use of a broker in the purchase, which they claim had resulted in the ballooning prices of the jets.

They have also filed a report on the alleged corruption with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) because they believed the actual cost of the procurement of the six Sukhois would be no more than $420 million.

Dipo said Hasanuddin should have known better about the early purchase of the Sukhoi since the PDI-P politician had been Megawati’s military secretary during the latter’s term in office.

Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro has denied any corrupt practices in the procurement. He also said the government did not use a broker, saying the government only dealt with the Jakarta representative of Rosoboronexport, Russia's state-owned firm appointed to export Russian-made weapons systems. (nvn)

Timeline

2003 to 2004: 2 Su-27MK2s and 2 Su-30MKs arrived in Indonesia. The purchase was made in a controversial counter trade scheme worth $192 million. 2008 to 2009: 3 Su-30MK2s delivered.

September 2010: 3 Su-27SKMs landed in Makassar, South Sulawesi. (Six Sukhois delivered from 2008 to 2010 were worth US$ 335 million)

December 2011: The government signed deal worth $470 million to buy 6 Su-30 MK2s. Two jets ordered are expected to arrive in Indonesia in April, three others in 2013 and the final jet in 2014.

Source: The Jakarta Post