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GARUDA Indonesia ticket prices are known to be more expensive than other airlines. State- Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir said that Garuda Indonesia flight ticket prices were more expensive because of the past management.
Erick Thohir revealed that the Garuda Indonesia case was not just a plane but an ecosystem in its poor governance. “So, this is not just an airplane, but an ecosystem,” said Erick Thohir when delivering a public lecture at the Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, Jakarta, as reported by Antara, Wednesday (1/26).
He pushed for the Garuda Indonesia case to be resolved, because it is impossible to buy or rent an airplane without a business plan and without calculating flight routes. Due to the absence of such a calculation, in the end, Garuda paid the aircraft rental fee to the lessor or the world’s most expensive aircraft lessor up to 28% compared to other airlines’ aircraft lessors which only amounted to 8 percent.
“So, there is a system and there is a solution so that in the future Garuda will not repeat similar cases again, because there is no management, in the end, the loss will also affect the people, namely expensive tickets. This is because there is a ticket monopoly,” said Erick Thohir.
Previously, Erick Thohir submitted evidence from the results of the BPKP investigation audit to the Attorney General’s Office regarding the procurement of ATR 72-600 aircraft by Garuda Indonesia. The project to procure the ATR 72-600 aircraft through leasing is a development of an old case that occurred during the time of the former President Director of Garuda Indonesia, Emirsyah Satar. In 2013, the state-owned airline worked on a project to procure 35 units of ATR 72-600 aircraft to serve short-haul flights in various regions in Indonesia.
At that time, the management of Garuda Indonesia brought ATR 72-600 aircraft to serve flight routes with a distance of less than 900 nautical miles, because the aircraft was claimed to have the capability to reach small airports with runways of less than 1,600 meters.
However, over time, the management of Garuda Indonesia returned the aircraft to the lessor because it was deemed unsuitable to operate in Indonesia.
In his report to the Attorney General’s Office, Erick also conveyed the government’s plan to restructure to save Garuda Indonesia. In the past, Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism (KKN) Erick Thohir revealed that the corruption case occurred under the leadership of the former President Director of Garuda Indonesia with the initials ES.
This case is still under investigation by the Attorney General’s Office. “For the ATR 72-600 (purchase) in 2013. So, if the ATR is still the initials ES from the results of the investigative audit report,” he said quoted from kompas TV Live Streaming.
The initials ES may refer to the name of the former President Director of Garuda Emirsyah Satar. Erick Thohir himself claimed to have pocketed some evidence. Erick Thohir said the inclusion of this evidence proves that the reporting is not an accusation.
According to him, there are already facts in the case of the procurement of the ATR 72 series 600 aircraft in his report to the AGO. “So, it’s not an accusation because we are not accusing each other. However, there must be facts given,” he said.
The figure of Emirsyah Satar is a former Garuda official who was previously involved in a corruption case. Emirsyah Satar is currently known to be still languishing in Sukamiskin Prison, Bandung.
He was sentenced to 8 years in prison after being found guilty of accepting bribes worth IDR49.3 billion and money laundering totaling IDR87.46 billion. “We submitted the investigative audit evidence, so it’s not an accusation, it’s no longer the era of accusing, but there must be facts given,” said Erick Thohir.
In addition, Erick stated, the report was not aimed at punishing individuals within the State-Owned Enterprise (BUMN) environment, but as an effort to improve the overall administrative system at the Ministry of BUMN. Therefore, Erick emphasized that it was time for the elements in the BUMN environment to be cleaned up. “I think it’s time for the elements in BUMN to be cleaned up. This is indeed our goal to keep the BUMN healthy,” he asserted.
Chronology of Garuda’s alleged corruption
Quoted from Antara, the ATR 72-600 aircraft procurement project through leasing or lessor is a development of an old case that occurred during the era of former Garuda Indonesia President Director Emirsyah Satar. In 2013, the state-owned airline worked on a project to procure 35 units of ATR 72-600 aircraft to serve short-haul flights in various regions in Indonesia.
At that time, the management of Garuda Indonesia brought ATR 72-600 aircraft to serve flight routes with a distance of less than 900 nautical miles, because the aircraft was claimed to have the capability to reach small airports with runways of less than 1,600 meters. However, over time, the company returned the aircraft to the lessor because it was deemed unsuitable to operate in Indonesia.
In addition, it is suspected that there was an attempt to mark up the charter of Garuda Indonesia aircraft which resulted in state financial losses. The ATR aircraft procurement is included in the company’s 2009-2014 Long Term Plan (RJPP). Where the financing to bring in the aircraft is carried out in several schemes. [antaranews/sources/photo special]
