Eka Yudha Saputra, Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) named Windu Aji Susanto, the owner of PT Kara Nusantara Investama, as a suspect in the illegal nickel mining case on Tuesday, July 18. Windu, a former member of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's team of volunteers during the 2019 elections, was immediately arrested.
The AGO's head of the Center for Legal Information, Ketut Sumedana, said four people had previously named suspects in the same case. "Today [the number of suspects] becomes five with the addition of [Windu Aji Susanto] WAS," he said at a press conference at the Attorney General's Office, Tuesday.
Windu is now officially a suspect in the case of illegal mining and trading of nickel ore in the Mandiodo Block, Molawe District, North Konawe, which is being handled by the Southeast Sulawesi Attorney General's Office.
Apart from Windu, the AGO has also detained the main director of PT Lawu Agung Mining (LAM), Ofan Sofwan (OS), who was previously named a suspect. Windu is also listed as the majority shareholder at Lawu Agung Mining.
PT Lawu Agung Mining is the nickel mining contractor in the concession area of PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (IDX: ANTM) or Antam in 2022-2025. PT LAM delegated this mandate to dozens of other companies that directly started mining, even though Antam did not have a borrow-to-use forest area permit (IPPKH) yet.
The Southeast Sulawesi Attorney General's Office had been working on the case since February 2023. PT LAM was also accused of committing a violation in the joint operation with Antam. In the agreement, PT LAM was supposed to sell all of the nickel to Antam, but they are said to have sold most of the nickel ores to a number of other companies in Morowali and Morosi using fake documents.