Two defendants in LPEI case deny manipulating credit documents

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Two defendants in the Indonesia Export Financing Institution (LPEI) corruption case, Handoko Limaho and Liu Raymond, have denied allegations that they manipulated a number of financing or credit documents, including fiduciary deeds for machinery, fiduciary deeds for receivables or debts, and other supporting documents.

Lawyer for the two defendants, Febri Diansyah, said the allegations were not proven because the disputed deeds were prepared in accordance with the data and values stated therein, including a value of around Rp100 billion, and were consistent with the testimony of witnesses at trial.

“Those deeds accord with the data, the testimony of witnesses, and the audited reports,” Febri said whilst reading out the response to the public prosecutor’s rebuttal (duplik) at a hearing at the Corruption Crime Court at the Central Jakarta District Court on Monday.

Therefore, Febri asserted that the preparation of the deeds had followed the applicable regulations.

The defendants’ legal team asked the panel of judges not to treat the existence of the deeds as a basis for concluding that document manipulation had occurred.

In addition, Febri denied allegations that his clients ordered the creation of fictitious documents, including invoices.

This was because there was no evidence showing that Handoko ordered the creation or use of fictitious documents to disburse LPEI financing facilities.

“Our client never ordered the creation of fictitious documents, and the idea of providing a Letter of Undertaking (LoU) did not come from the defendant Handoko either,” he said.

The case relates to alleged corruption in LPEI’s national export financing for the 2015–2020 period, which according to the prosecutors’ indictment allegedly resulted in state losses of around Rp992.82 billion.

In addition to Handoko as the beneficial owner of PT Tebo Indah (TI) and PT Pratama Agro Sawit (PAS), and Liu as Director of PT TI, there are six other defendants in the case: Andi Maulana Adjie, Head of the Sharia Financing Division Department at LPEI for 2011–2017; Intan Apriadi, Head of Sharia Financing Division I Department for 2007–2016; and Komaruzzaman, Head of Sharia Financing Division II Department for 2011–2016.

Then there are Gamaginta, Head of LPEI’s Sharia Financing Division I Department for 2017–2018; Dwi Wahyudi, Executive Director I of LPEI for 2009–2018; and Ryan Wahyudi, Relations Manager of Sharia Financing I in the Sharia Financing I Department of LPEI’s Sharia Financing Division for 2015–2018.

The defendants are alleged to have jointly committed several interrelated criminal acts, which are seen as one continuous unlawful act that enriched the defendants Handoko Limaho and Liu Raymond to the detriment of state finances or the national economy.

The unlawful acts allegedly committed by the defendants began when Handoko, together with Liu, applied for financing facilities.

However, the application was accompanied by feasibility study documents and asset valuation reports from a Public Appraiser Services Office (KJPP) stating an area of planted oil palm land that did not correspond to actual conditions.

Furthermore, Handoko and Liu, among other things, are also alleged to have used fiduciary deeds for inventory and trade receivables that did not match the audited financial statements, and to have requested the disbursement of financing facilities with supporting documents in the form of fictitious invoices and contracts.

For their actions, the eight defendants are charged under Article 603 or Article 604 in conjunction with Article 20 letter c of the National Criminal Code, in conjunction with Article 8 of Law Number 31 of 1999 as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001 on the Eradication of Corruption Crimes.