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🇮🇩 Indonesia /Crime & Justice

Lawyer Denies 17 Corporations Involved in Ex-Ombudsman Bribery Case

From Tempo · () Indonesian

Translated from Indonesian, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources In the courts
  • A lawyer commented on allegations linking 17 corporations to a bribery case involving former Indonesian Ombudsman official Hery Susanto.
  • Hery Susanto is accused of accepting Rp 1.5 billion to issue a favorable report on PT Toshida Indonesia's tax obligations.
  • The case is progressing to trial, with prosecutors investigating the extent of corporate involvement.

The legal defense for former Indonesian Ombudsman official Hery Susanto has responded to reports implicating 17 corporations in a bribery scheme involving the sale of investigation reports. Yunus Ferdiansyah, Susanto's lawyer, stated that these allegations are currently mere suspicions and have yet to be proven in court, emphasizing that the case is still in the evidentiary stage.

Hery Susanto was designated a suspect for allegedly receiving Rp 1.5 billion from PT Toshida Indonesia (PT TSHI). The funds were reportedly intended to influence an Ombudsman investigation report concerning PT TSHI's tax revenue obligations, which amounted to Rp 130 billion. The owner of PT TSHI, Laode Sinarwan Oda, has also been named a suspect in the case.

It's just an allegation and has not been proven in court. It is still in the stage of evidence.

— Yunus FerdiansyahCommenting on the allegations involving 17 corporations in the Hery Susanto bribery case.

Prosecutors have reportedly uncovered that the alleged illicit trade of Ombudsman reports extended beyond PT TSHI, with indications that 17 companies, primarily in the mining sector, had also sought such reports. The Attorney General's Office is actively investigating these companies to determine their direct involvement or if intermediaries were used. Director of Investigation at the Attorney General's Office for Special Crimes, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, confirmed the ongoing investigation into multiple companies.

The case has advanced to the trial phase, where Hery Susanto faces charges of accepting bribes, including cash and a house valued at a total of Rp 4.85 billion. These charges relate to alleged gratification in the governance of nickel mining operations between 2013 and 2025. Prosecutors allege that these payments were linked to Susanto's position as an Ombudsman member. The indictment details that Susanto allegedly received these benefits to ensure Ombudsman reports favored PT Toshida Indonesia and PT Dinamika Sejahtera Mandiri regarding tax obligations and mining permits, overriding decisions made by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

We are investigating whether the companies were directly involved or if there were intermediaries.

— Syarief Sulaeman NahdiDescribing the Attorney General's Office's efforts to determine corporate involvement.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Tempo in Indonesian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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