Suara Indonesia News - The AGO arrests the Executive Director of PT Pos Indonesia and a
number of post office heads on suspicions of graft.
HANA SURYANA could not hide his disappointment. On Monday last
week, after being questioned at the Attorney General's Office at
the Bundar Building, he never suspected that he would
immediately be taken into detention. "I was shocked," said the
Executive Director of PT Pos Indonesia. When visited at the AGO
detention facility on Wednesday last week, he appeared dejected.
The 51-year-old man is now facing serious corruption charges
over the embezzlement of PT Pos Indonesia commission fees for
the dispatch of PT Pos customer letters.
The AGO suspects that Hana became involved in the dirty practice
when he held the post of the Region IV Postmaster, which covers
Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi in 2003-2006. The
AGO has a number of pieces of evidence in its possession
including, among others, a written order from Hana on charging a
6 percent commission, which exceeds the stipulated 5 percent
maximum.
According to Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Marwan
Effendy, Hana's detention represents a development arising out
of an investigation into a similar case at the Fatahillah Post
Office in Central Jakarta earlier in March. The Fatahillah case
is suspected of causing financial losses to the state amounting
to Rp14 billion. "It appears that these practices are also
occurring at other post offices," said Marwan. According to
Marwan, based on a written complaint sent by an "inside person"
at PT Pos, state financial losses are as much as Rp45 billion.
It was from here that the investigation then led to Hana and his
indictment.
Prior to Hana's arrest, the AGO had detained a number of other
PT Pos officials. They include, among others, head of the
Central Jakarta Post Office, Herbon Optalno, head of the Jakarta
Mampang II Post Office, Rudi Atas Perbatas, the former head of
the Central Jakarta Post Office, Her Chaeruddin, head of the
South Jakarta Post Office, Yosef Taufik Hidayat, and the head of
the West Jakarta Post Office, Erinaldi.
The "slowly developing" case of alleged corruption in the
state-owned postal company began five years ago when a PT Pos
Director of Operations Circular came to light. The written
circular regulated matters related to price deductions,
incentives and commissions for outside parties that used PT Pos
services. The Region IV Post Office has "big shot" customers
from at least 20 companies, including among others PT Telkomsel,
PT Exelcomindo Pratama (XL), PT Bank Negara Indonesia and the
Sequis Life insurance company. During the AGO's investigation,
it turned out that these commissions also went into the pockets
of "Pak Pos" senior post office officials. "There was a receipt
signed by a PT Pos official. Whereas the commission should have
been received by the customer," said Marwan.
The value of the commissions, said Marwan, also appears to have
been inflated. When Hana held the post of Region IV Postmaster
for example, he once authorized the head of the Fatahillah Post
Office, Fahrurozy, to increase commissions to 6 percent. Whereas
according to the regulations that were cited in the circular,
the size of a commission should have only been 3-5 percent of
the value of the transaction. "The money does not appear to have
been received by the customers," said Marwan.
The AGO also questioned a number of PT Pos' business customers.
One particular prosecutor related how one witness stated that
they had never received a commission. "There was a witness that
was asked to sign a receipt for Rp2 million, but was only
treated to a meal," said the prosecutor. According to a number
of other witnesses, they refused to sign receipts because it was
not possible for funds that had already been spent on postal
fees to be returned to the company. They were also unaware of
the existence of the stipulation on commissions issued by PT
Pos. "I didn't know there was a regulation on the matter," said
a witness who was questioned at the AGO. The AGO has already
conducted two raids on the Region IV Post Office. But despite
having turned the offices located in the area of Banteng Square
upside down, the original receipts for the commissions that were
to be used as material evidence were not found.
It was these raids that later provoked a protest from Stefanus
Gunawan, the lawyer representing PT Pos. Stefanus plans to
launch a pretrial hearing because prosecutors raided the offices
without a court order. But Marwan is not worried. According to
Marwan the search warrant can be requested later. "The raid on
the PT Pos office was urgent," he said.
Hana however asserts that he did not embezzle or inflate
commissions as he has been accused. According to Hana, even if
the AGO cites the inflation of commissions, this was actually
done after reducing the discount percentage or initiative, the
total of which is less then 13 percent. Hana said that this is
not a violation of the regulations because there was another
stipulation in the circular that referred to maximum 30 percent
limits on fees for pre-posting, including discounts, commissions
and incentives. Now, on the matter of this 30 percent limit,
again there was a degree of flexibility. The thing is, in the
circular it stated that regional postmasters are entitled to
change or review the amount of money or percentage in order to
obtain discounts, commissions and incentives.
PT Pos spokesperson Joesman Kartaprawira also asserts that what
Hana did was to simply pass on the contents of a PT Pos Director
of Operation Circular to regional post offices under his
jurisdiction. "The commissions were aimed at maintaining
customer loyalty," he said. According to Joesman, the issue of
the signatures by PT Pos officials on the commission receipts
also cannot be said to violate the law. "The circular stated
that if a recipient refuses to sign a receipt, it is enough for
the recipient signature column to be signed by the official who
hands over the commission or is appointed," he said.
Because all of the suspects are citing the circular as their
alibi, the AGO is currently investigating how and when it was
issued. According to Marwan, the document clearly conflicts with
a 2000 Ministerial Regulation on State-Owned Enterprises,
because according to the regulation, government-owned companies
are not allowed to accept commissions. "Meanwhile the majority
of PT Pos' customers are government-owned companies." It does
indeed appear that more "Pak Pos" are likely to be dragged into
the case.
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