Suara.com – The attorney for the defendant Galumbang Menak Simanjuntak, Maqdir Ismail, said that the value of state financial losses of IDR 8.03 trillion related to the corruption case for the BAKTI Kominfo 4G BTS supply project which was declared by the Indonesian Attorney General’s Office based on the results of an audit by the Financial and Development Audit Agency (BPKP) was irrelevant and misleading. Because according to him, this figure is greater than the actual funds received by the consortium which is claimed to only reach IDR 7.7 trillion after tax.
The Indonesian Attorney General’s Office, said Maqdir, stated that the state’s financial losses came from activities to provide 4,200 BTS towers and supporting infrastructure. Of the target of 4,200 BTS towers that must be completed, 3,242 of them have not been completed by the deadline of March 31 2022.
Maqdir then claimed that most of the 3,242 BTS towers that were considered stalled by the Indonesian Attorney General’s Office had actually been completed and were just waiting for the administrative handover process. According to him, BPKP should continue to assess the valuation so that it cannot be considered a state loss.
“In fact, the tower in question is already standing and can be operated. “In fact, these BTS have provided 4G signals to the public, and have provided benefits for cellular operators and BAKTI who receive payments from cellular operators,” said Maqdir to journalists, Wednesday (8/11/2023).
On the other hand, Maqdir said that based on the facts of the trial on December 31 2022, it was known that the number of phase I BTS towers that had been completed was 3,029 on-air and ready-on-air towers. Of which 3,029 on-air towers are connected to cellular operators.
“In fact, until early September 2023, the number of towers that have been completed and connected to operators or are ready to be connected to cellular operators has reached almost 100 percent, this is outside of sites that are hampered by force majeure. “The BTS construction funds in the force majeure category have also been returned to the state,” he said.
Maqdir then claimed that the completion of the BTS construction to date is in fact still ongoing. Despite experiencing various obstacles, including when the legal process was ongoing.
“The significant progress in completing this BTS project shows that the 4G BTS project is not stalled. “The completion of the BTS construction also proves that accusations that there have been state losses from this project are very irrelevant and misleading,” he said.
As is known, in this case, Galumbang was sentenced to 15 years in prison and a fine of IDR 1 billion, subsidiary to one year in prison.
The charges were handed down to the former President Director of PT Mora Telematics Indonesia because he was deemed to have violated Article 2 Paragraph 1 or Article 3 of the Corruption Eradication Law in conjunction with Article 55 Paragraph 1 1 of the Criminal Code and Article 3 or Article 4 of the Prevention and Eradication Law. Crime of Money Laundering (TPPU) Juncto Article 55 Paragraph 1 1 of the Criminal Code.