Puteh admits no bid offered

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta

Graft suspect Abdullah Puteh admitted on Thursday that no tender was held for the purchase of a Russian-made helicopter in 2001, but denied suggestions that he had violated any law in the deal.

Speaking to reporters after undergoing 13 hours of questioning at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) office, Puteh said that Presidential Decree No. 18/2000 allowed him to award a project without public tender.

"What I did (skipping the bidding process) was in line with Presidential Decree No. 18/2000," said Puteh, who is also governor of Nangroe Aceh Darussalam.

KPK has declared Puteh a graft suspect for allegedly marking up the price of a Russian assault helicopter the Aceh administration bought in 2001, causing the state to lose some Rp 4 billion (US$440,000).

Presidential Decree No. 18/2000 requires a transparent bidding process for any government project or procurement of goods valued at more than Rp 5 billion. However, it allows local administrations to skip the procedure in case of emergency, including natural disaster, or if the project deals with "sensitive materials" such as explosive.

Puteh said Aceh legislature members approved the purchase of the helicopter in a plenary session because "we need a strategic vehicle that enables us to carry out our duties in monitoring a territory as vast as Aceh".

Puteh's lawyer, OC Kaligis, said that his client had to answer about 80 questions during the interrogation. All questions were related to the procedure in the purchase of the chopper.

During the questioning, several anticorruption activists went to the KPK office to submit data on corruption allegedly committed by Aceh officials and councillors.

The activists, members of the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), the Aceh Solidarity on Anticorruption Movement (Sorak) and Transparency International Indonesia (TII), said in their report that Aceh councillors raised the budget for their salaries, causing Rp 8.2 billion in state losses.

Represented by Teten Masduki of ICW and Akhiruddin Mahjuddin of Sorak, the activists met with commission leaders for almost one hour.

"The alleged corruption violates Article 14 of Government Regulation No. 110/2000 on the composition of councils, because they allocated funds as payment for their position as Aceh legislators, causing state losses of Rp 8.2 billion.

"We have to submit the report because all Aceh councillors feel that they are clean and try to defend Puteh regardless of his status as a graft suspect," Akhiruddin said.

Thursday's questioning was the second consecutive day for Puteh to be grilled by KPK investigators.

The KPK initiated the investigation after numerous allegations that the helicopter's price was marked up considerably. The Navy, for instance, bought the same type of aircraft for Rp 6 billion, while the Aceh administration bought it for Rp 12.2 billion. However, the administration's helicopter had extra accessories, such as a bulletproof windscreen.

At least 13 regental administrations in Aceh, including North Aceh, Sabang and Aceh Besar, contributed Rp 700 million each to help the provincial administration buy the chopper.