Customs Official Admits Shock at Rp 1 Billion 'Entrusted' Payment from Cargo Firm: 'Why So Large?'

The Acting Director of Intelligence for the Directorate General of Customs and Excise at the Ministry of Finance, Sisprian Subiaksono, was presented as a witness by prosecutors in the trial of an alleged import bribery case. During his testimony, Sisprian, who is also a suspect in this case, admitted he had once received an entrusted payment of Rp 1 billion in Singapore dollar denominations from PT BlueRay Cargo.

The customs import corruption trial was held at the Central Jakarta Corruption Court on Wednesday. KPK prosecutor M Takdir Suhan initially asked whether there had been any entrusted money from PT BlueRay Cargo channelled through the Head of Customs Intelligence Section I of the Directorate of Enforcement and Investigation, Orlando Hamonangan, also known as Ocoy.

‘In connection with the earlier point, what did Ocoy convey to the witness regarding money?’ asked the prosecutor. ‘According to him, there was an entrusted payment from BlueRay for me,’ the witness replied. The prosecutor then asked if the entrusted item was handed over in an envelope. Sisprian stated that Orlando only mentioned there was an entrusted item.

‘What did the witness understand? Was it just an envelope containing a letter? Or did the witness understand this entrusted item to be money?’ the prosecutor inquired. ‘Money,’ the witness answered. ‘So the witness made the connection that what Ocoy conveyed—the entrusted item—was money?’ the prosecutor pressed. ‘Correct,’ the witness replied.

The prosecutor then asked if Orlando had specified the amount of the entrusted money from PT BlueRay Cargo. Sisprian stated the payment was approximately Rp 1 billion in Singapore dollar notes. Asked about his reaction, Sisprian said he was shocked. ‘It was too large, I said, ‘why is it so big, Coy?’’ he testified. He added that he immediately forwarded the money and refused to accept it.

The defendants in this trial are John Field, the head of Blueray Cargo (Group), Dedy Kurniawan Sukolo, the Operational Manager for Port Custom Clearance at Blueray Cargo (Group), and Andri, the Head of the Import Document Team at Blueray Cargo (Group). KPK prosecutors have charged the three Blueray Cargo executives with bribing officials at the Directorate General of Customs and Excise. They are accused of providing a total of Rp 61.3 billion in Singapore dollar currency, as well as various facilities and luxury goods worth up to Rp 1.8 billion.