Director suspended, regular flights resume
Director suspended, regular flights resume
Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru, Riau
Bowing to pressure from striking workers, PT Riau Airlines (RAL)
suspended president director Yunus Bachri while prosecutors
opened an investigation into graft allegations against him.
The decision prompted striking employees, including all 11 RAL
pilots, to return to work on Wednesday, meaning regular flights
resumed a day after being canceled because of the strike.
Kapitra Ampera, a lawyer for PT RAL's Workers Communication
Forum, said the suspension of Yunus was agreed to at 11 p.m. on
Tuesday by the company's board of commissioners.
"We received a copy of the decision suspending the RAL
director and the workers were informed of this decision, so they
returned to work," Kapitra said.
He said the company's operations would be overseen by the
commissioners until a new president director was appointed within
the next 30 days.
Eleven pilots, dozens of flight attendants and other airline
employees went on strike on Tuesday, demanding that Yunus be
fired for corruption and incompetence.
The workers also asked the Riau Prosecutor's Office to
question Yunus over the alleged embezzlement of about Rp 1.1
billion (US$129.4 million) of the fledging airline's operational
funds.
In response, the prosecutor's office set up a team to open an
investigation into the case.
"We received a complaint from the workers about the
embezzlement of Rp 1.1 billion from the company by Yunus Bachri
and we responded to it," said prosecutor Dimpuan Sialagan, who
heads the team.
He said the team had questioned three people from the airline
-- copilot Windy Yusnidar Natsir, finance manager Rivai and labor
leader Sogi Prakoso.
The workers accused Yunus of transferring Rp 1.1 billion from
the company to his personal account, and also of marking up his
expenses as company director.
The workers also accused Yunus of failing to explore business
opportunities that could have benefited the one-year-old airline.