REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANDUNG - An official from the Ministry of Defence refuted a suspicion that Indonesia used a broker in its purchase of Russian Sukhoi jet-fighters. "We only had contact with JSC Rosoboronexport which is the official representative of the Russian government in the purchase of the war planes," Head of Defense Facility Affairs at the Ministry of Defence, Major General Edwin Prabowo, said on Friday.

He said throughout the process towards the signing of the contract, the defense ministry had never contacted other parties, including agencies, let alone a middleman. It had only dealt with JSC Rosoboronexport. Edwin said that every party supplying military hardware to Indonesia, including the Sukhoi manufacture had a local partner in Indonesia.

"But the local partner only facilitates the administrative need of the producer, in this case Rosoboronexport, with the defense ministry. It had no role in the decision on the type of product, let alone the price and contract," he said.

Earlier, the deputy chairman of the House of Representatives (DPR)`s Commission I on defense affairs, TB Hasanuddin suspected that the purchase of Sukhois had involved a broker.

He said that rumors had it that the defense ministry had concluded the purchase contract not through Rosoboronexport which was the official representative of the Russian government but through an export credit through PT X firm as a broker.

Hasanuddin said that based on a release by Rosoboronexport, the price of a Sukhoi SU 30 MK2 per July 2011 was about 60-70 million US dollars. While the price of a Sukhoi bought previously was only 55 million dollars or about 420 million dollars for four Sukhois.

The defense ministry has bought six Sukhoi Su-30 MK2 from Russia. The purchase was marked by the handing-over of the purchase contract of Su-30 MK2 between the defense ministry and JSC Rosoboronexport Russia in Jakarta at the end of 2011.

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