PLN executives investigated

TANGERANG (JP): The Tangerang Prosecutor's Office will immediately launch an investigation in a suspected Rp 6.9 billion corruption case involving two executives and two staff members of Tangerang's state-run electricity company (PLN), an official said on Monday.

"We have just received the dossiers on the case from Tangerang Police and I have appointed two senior prosecutors to prepare the indictments against the four suspects," head of Tangerang Prosecutor's Office Poerwo Soediro said at his office.

Quoting the police dossiers, Poerwo said that Asnawai Sabrawi, chief of the Tangerang chapter of PLN, Kartiyanto, the office secretary, and two staff members, Adin. S and Udi Indra, were accused of violating four articles of the Criminal Code: Article 363 on theft, Article 378 on deception, Article 263 on counterfeiting and Article 55 on involving others in a crime.

The articles carry a maximum punishment of nine years in prison.

Asked why the suspects were not charged with Law No. 3/1999 on anticorruption, which carries a life sentence, prosecutor M. Adam, who has been appointed to handle the case, said he had only recently received the police's dossiers.

"If we find later in the investigation that the suspects violated Law No.3/1999 on corruption, we will change the articles to charge them," he said.

Police arrested main suspect Asnawai at one of his houses in Bekasi earlier this month. Police put him under house arrest one week later.

Meanwhile, Kartiyanto, Adin and Udi have been in police custody since June 29.

The case was revealed when the Tangerang PLN office conducted an operation probing the rampant power theft by private companies and individual consumers last month.

Tangerang Police deputy chief of detectives First Insp. Kustanto said that Asnawi and Kartiyanto had allegedly misdirected electric bills from several companies in the Tangerang area.

He said those companies were requested to pay their electric bills to Kartiyanto every month but the money was not submitted to PLN.

According to Kustanto, the two executives pocketed the money instead and bought houses in Tangerang and Bekasi.

He said they also used some of the money to bribe several staff members who were in charge of checking the electric meters at those companies.

"This has been going on since 1990," the police officer said. (01)