A red flag

The Rolls-Royce bribery scandal

It reads like a seedy novel, a story of bribery and corruption in high places. But it’s real. The startling news last month that one of the world’s leading engine makers, Rolls-Royce, has admitted to forking out multi-million dollar sweeteners to win orders sent shock waves through the aviation world. Especially through Asia, since five of the seven countries and some of the airlines named are in the region.

Rolls says it handed out bribes in India, China, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. The airlines, or executives from the carriers accused, include China Eastern Airlines, Thai Airways International and Garuda Indonesia. In Indonesia, the country’s anti-corruption agency, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) announced it was investigating the matter and named former Garuda chief executive Emirsyah Satar as a suspect in a bribery case. He flatly denies it, saying: “As far as I know, when I was the CEO of PT Garuda Indonesia, I had never done corrupt activities and I did not receive anything that was related to my position.” It is, and properly should be, a matter of “innocent until proven guilty”.