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Attorney General’s Office reveals alleged PT CNI scheme to manipulate nickel content for exports
🇮🇩 Indonesia /Economy & Trade

Attorney General’s Office reveals alleged PT CNI scheme to manipulate nickel content for exports

From CNN Indonesia · () Indonesian

Translated from Indonesian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Official statement Under investigation
  • Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office alleges that PT Ceria Nugraha Indotama exported nickel from Southeast Sulawesi without the required work and budget plan.
  • Investigators allege that the company colluded with state officials to manipulate nickel-content test results above the 1.7% export threshold and used invalid documents.
  • The state’s reported losses total about 401.65 billion rupiah, while investigators have questioned 116 witnesses and three experts.

Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office says PT Ceria Nugraha Indotama exported nickel despite lacking a required work and budget plan, known as an RKAB. The company allegedly held a production-operation mining licence and an export recommendation during 2017 to 2019, but did not have the plan needed for its operations.

Investigators also accuse PT CNI of working with state officials to manipulate nickel-content results. Prosecutor Saiful Bahri Siregar said the alleged arrangement produced test results above 1.7%, the level required for export. The company allegedly used invalid documents to carry out the exports.

In 2017 to 2019, in Southeast Sulawesi province, there was a nickel mining company, PT CNI, that had a production-operation mining licence and did not yet have an RKAB, but already had an export recommendation.

— Saiful Bahri SiregarThe prosecutor described PT CNI’s alleged lack of the required work and budget plan.

The alleged conduct formed part of a corruption case involving nickel governance in Southeast Sulawesi between 2017 and 2020. The Attorney General’s Office said the state suffered losses of Rp401,653,737,469.69, citing a calculation report from Indonesia’s Audit Board.

PT CNI and state officials allegedly arranged matters so that the test results showed a nickel content above 1.7% to meet the export requirement, which should have been above 1.7%.

— Saiful Bahri SiregarHe outlined the alleged manipulation of nickel-content test results.

Investigators have examined 116 witnesses and three experts. They seized 143 documents and searched locations in Southeast Sulawesi, South Sulawesi and Jakarta. Authorities previously received about Rp401 billion connected to the case, which is being held in a government account at Bank Mandiri under the name of the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes.

Saiful said investigators were still assembling the alleged criminal events and evidence to determine which parties could face criminal responsibility.

Investigators are currently constructing the criminal events and completing the evidence to determine the parties who may be held criminally responsible.

— Saiful Bahri SiregarHe described the status of the investigation.
About this summary

Originally published by CNN Indonesia in Indonesian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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