Muhammad Aulia Rahman, Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Tuesday detained three suspects accused of inflating the price of a power plant component procured by the state-owned electricity company PLN.

The suspects include Bambang Anggono, general manager of PLN's main power station for the southern Sumatra area; Budi Widi Asmoro, engineering manager of the same facility; and Nehemia Indrajaya, director of Truba Engineering Indonesia.

They have allegedly inflated the price of a sootblower purchased for the Bukit Asam coal-fired power plant from Rp 52 billion ($3.2 million) to Rp 75 billion ($4.6 million) for personal gains, said KPK Deputy Chairman Alexander Marwata during a news conference at his office in Jakarta.

In January 2018, PLN approved a budget of Rp 52 billion to retrofit the soot-blowing system at the Bukit Asam power plant. Nehemia's company was awarded the contract to procure the soot blower according to the budget.

However, the businessman and the PLN officials conspired to inflate the price to Rp 75 billion which caused a financial loss to the state, Alexander said.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/kpk-detains-3-suspects-in-pln-graft-scanda