Japanese contractor linked to kickbacks here: Report
Japanese contractor linked to kickbacks here: Report
TOKYO (Agencies): A Japanese contractor allegedly paid at
least 40 million (US$340,000) in kickbacks to cronies of former
Indonesian president Soeharto and related ministries to get a
railway contract, a report said Thursday.
Tekken Corp. paid the money between 1988 and 1990 to the
Udinda firm that acted as the Japanese firm's mediator in
attempts to get the Jakarta railway deal, the Yomiuri Shimbun
said.
Former Tekken officials said they were told kickbacks to
Soeharto associates and high-ranking officials would be needed to
win the contract, the daily said.
An Udinda official told the Yomiuri Shimbun that the company
gave 80 percent of the kickbacks to Indonesia's state
secretariat, national development and planning agency, transport
ministry and others.
"I believe part of kickbacks to the state secretariat was
diverted to Soeharto's associates," the Udinda official was
quoted as saying.
Although Tekken claimed the payment was for mediation fees,
Tokyo regional tax authorities determined it was used to gain
favor in the award of contracts.
Tekken won contracts valued at 4.63 billion in connection
with the railway construction between 1988 and 1990.
The construction, although being awarded by the Indonesian
government, was funded by Japan's official development
assistance, the daily said.
It is believed Japanese companies routinely provided kickbacks
to Soeharto cronies in connection with official development
assistance projects, it said.
Previously, Japanese companies found to have given payments to
foreign government officials could not be punished under domestic
law.
However, after the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development ratified a treaty to prevent bribes to public
servants in foreign countries, the government has revised the
Unfair Competition Prevention Law to enable prosecution.
Another report was carried by The Asian Wall Street Journal on
Wednesday on alleged high-class bribery that occurred in 1996,
which allegedly involved a crony of Soeharto and a Dutch telecom
giant.
The daily said KPN NV admitted it arranged and help to
guarantee a $91 million bank loan for a friend of the Soeharto
family in order to gain a stake in Telkomsel, Indonesia's largest
mobile phone network.
In a related development, Antara reported on Thursday the
North Sumatra Provincial Prosecutor's Office would question soon
Soeharto's eldest son Sigit Harjojudanto for a second time in
connection with an alleged embezzlement of Rp 237 billion in bank
loans to a local real estate developer PT Viktor Jaya Raya from
the province-owned Bank Pembangunan Daerah. In the first
questioning last October, Sigit denied he owned shares worth Rp
4.6 billion in the company.
The company director, identified as KW, 48, has been named a
suspect in the case and put in the custody of the prosecutor's
office. (vin/aan)