Indonesian lawmaker jailed in Alstom-Marubeni bribe case

JAKARTA, April 14, 2014 (AFP) - Indonesia's main anti-corruption court sentenced a lawmaker to three years' jail Monday for accepting bribes from French company Alstom and Japan's Marubeni in a multimillion-dollar contract.

Izedrik Emir Moeis was found guilty of accepting $357,000 from the companies to help them secure a $118 million joint contract in 2004 to supply and install boilers at a power plant on the island of Sumatra.

Marubeni Corporation, a Japanese trading company, agreed last month to pay an $88 million fine after pleading guilty in a federal US court to paying the bribes, with Alstom employees, to an Indonesian lawmaker, as well as to executives at Indonesia's state-run electricity company which awarded the contract.

The US Justice Department said Marubeni had paid several hundred thousand dollars to Indonesian officials via bogus consultants, with its consortium partners.

"The court has found that the consortium did indeed hire a consultant... who promised the accused he would pay him 'fees or a commission'," Judge Sofialdi, who goes by one name, told the court.

The companies are facing a US court because Alstom's US subsidiary was part of the consortium.

Alstom was listed on the New York Stock Exchange until 2004, and two officials from its US subsidiary have already pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the scam.

Two other Alstom executives face charges but have not yet entered pleas.

Marubeni admitted one count of conspiracy to violate the US anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and seven other counts of violating the same law.

Moeis is the latest in a series of lawmakers to be jailed for corruption in graft-ridden Indonesia, which Transparency International ranks 114th out of 177 countries on its annual index, from the least to most corrupt.

Moeis is from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle which won the most votes in last Wednesday's legislative polls, largely thanks to its popular presidential candidate.

Jakarta governor Joko Widodo has promised cleaner governance should he win the presidency. - AFP