A foreign national is suspected of being involved in a corruption case in the management of the satellite orbit slot 123 degrees east longitude at the Defense Ministry.
Indonesian Anti-Corruption Society (MAKI) Coordinator Boyamin Saiman said the foreigner has the initials TVDH and is believed to be an expert consultant appointed by PT Dini Nusa Kusuma (DNK) and the Defense Ministry for satellite procurement at that time.
“TVDH is suspected of being the party that regulates or facilitates parties suspected of being involved in the procurement and lease of the 2015 to 2020 Defense Ministry satellites,” said Saiman on Wednesday 16th February.
The name was listed in the material for the resistance lawsuit submitted by the Defense Ministry to the Central Jakarta Court to overturn the Singapore arbitration decision that made the government pay a fine of hundreds of billions of Rupiah. He added that TVDH is a foreigner who has more than two identities.
“As a foreigner, he is suspected of carrying out certain missions, foreign interests should be wary of all his actions and a more in-depth investigation needs to be carried out in order to uncover all his activities in order to maintain the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia,” he explained.
TVDH is believed to be currently outside the territory of Indonesia, making it difficult for the investigation process at the attorney general’s office.
“If there is evidence of TVDH’s involvement in the alleged corruption of the Defense Ministry’s satellite lease, the attorney general’s office must immediately issue a warrant and cooperate with Interpol to issue a Red Notice,” he explained.
Supardi, the Director of Investigations at the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Office, said that the name TVDH did appear during the investigation of the corruption case. Investigators are still working to understand the person and to confirm his nationality.
“We have to make sure first, which country he is from, where he lives – but we haven’t confirmed it yet,” said Supardi.
He said investigators would consider MAKI’s proposal to be able to determine the fugitive status of TVDH if all the required data were confirmed and clear.
PT DNK is known to be the holder of the Indonesian Satellite Filing management rights for satellite operations at that time.
This case relates to the lease contract for the Artemis Satellite owned by Avanti Communication Limited on 6th December 2015. The contract was carried out even though the use of the 123 degree east longitude orbit slot from the Communication and Information Ministry was only issued on 29th January 2016.
Indonesia was then sued in the Arbitration Court to pay compensation due to the problematic rental process. First, the state was sued for compensation of Rp515 billion in 2019 by Avianti. Then, in 2021, the country was again sued for US$21 million by Navayo.