Johnny Plate (Johnny Plate)

Johnny Plate (Johnny Plate)

Biography

2023: Arrest on charges of bribes in the supply of telecom equipment

On May 17, 2023, law enforcement arrested Indonesia the Minister of Communications information technology and the country, Johnny G. Plate. A senior official is suspected of corruption and taking bribes in the supply of telecommunications equipment.

The Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Indonesia said that we are talking about a project to provide hard-to-reach and disadvantaged areas with Internet access. It was assumed that thousands of small settlements in the state would be equipped with 4G base stations. Thus, villagers had to receive modern communication services, including telephony, high-speed data services, etc.

However, in reality, the project was never implemented. Moreover, residents of a number of provinces complained that after the start of the deployment of the new network, those telephony and Internet access services that existed were completely paralyzed. The fact is that many installed cell towers simply did not function. Indonesia lost more than 8 trillion rupees (approximately $538.39 million at the exchange rate as of May 23, 2023) due to corruption under this project, according to the state Agency for Supervision of Development and Finance.

While Plate's specific role in this criminal scheme has not been revealed, the Attorney General's Office says he has been arrested "as a budget manager and as a minister." He could face charges of violating a local corruption law, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Thus, Plate became the fifth minister in the cabinet of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who was prosecuted in connection with bribery and participation in corruption schemes.^[1]

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