Former Garuda Indonesia Chief Sentenced for Corruption

An Indonesian court has sentenced former Garuda Indonesia chief Emirsyah Satar to five years in prison for corruption linked to unauthorized procurement of jets from Bombardier and ATR. This follows a previous eight-year sentence in 2020 for bribery and money laundering involving Airbus and Rolls-Royce.

An Indonesian court handed a five-year prison sentence to former Garuda Indonesia chief Emirsyah Satar on Wednesday for corruption related to acquiring jets from Bombardier and ATR, his lawyer disclosed.

Prosecutors accused Satar, who led the airline from 2005 to 2014, of bypassing proper procedures and board approval when procuring Bombardier's CRJ and ATR 72 jets in 2011. This misconduct resulted in substantial financial losses for the state, estimated at $610 million, due to the jets' poor performance.

Judge Rianto Adam Pontoh from the Jakarta corruption court also imposed a fine of 500 million rupiah ($30,759.77) on Satar, according to state news agency Antara. Satar's lawyer, Monang Sagala, confirmed the ruling but stated that no decision has been made regarding an appeal. This sentence follows a previous eight-year prison term for Satar in 2020 for bribery and money laundering tied to deals with Airbus and Rolls-Royce.