Hyundai Admits that It Bribed Indonesian Politician to Complete Construction of Coal Power Plant

I would not be surprised if the person receiving the bribe was actually organizing the protests in order to get a bribe to stop them:

Major Korean builder Hyundai Engineering & Construction has admitted bribing an Indonesian politician for a coal-fired power plant construction project in West Java.

Following repeated Korea Times inquiries, a spokesman at Hyundai’s headquarters in Seoul said it gave a large sum of money to Cirebon Regent Sunjaya Purwadisastra through a broker to calm protesting residents in the area over the construction.

“The regent approached us through the broker and offered to resolve the issue,” the official said. “For us, it is critical to finish the construction on time; otherwise, we could face a heavy fine. So we gave him money.” 

According to local media, Sunjaya demanded bribes from Hyundai, which gave him 6.5 billion rupiah ($460,000) out of a requested 9.5 billion rupiah.

“For a project as big as that, I thought that the district chief should have a share (of the pie),” Sunjaya was quoted in Indonesian as saying.

“Rudiyanto’s (a subcontractor) trucks could not enter the area because they were blocked by people who were staging protests. Thanks to our intervention, they were allowed access and he paid us.”

Korea Times

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