APSN Banner

AGO names two ministry officials as suspects in illegal nickel ore mining case

Source
Tempo - July 25, 2023

Riani Sanusi Putri, Jakarta – The Attorney's General Office (AGO) named two suspects from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (EMR) in the illegal nickel ore mining case. The state loss estimated from the alleged corruption case in the Mendiodo Block, North Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi is Rp5.7 trillion.

Head of the AGO's Information Center Ketut Sumedana revealed that the two suspects are the Head of the Geology Agency EMR Ministry which was also the former Director of the Mineral and Coal Program Development Sugeng Mujiyanto (SM) and the Work Plan and Budget evaluator in the EMR Ministry (EVT).

"The two suspects are related to the case in North Sulawesi concerning the operational cooperation contract between PT Antam and PT Lawu Agung Mining," said Ketut in the AGO office on Monday evening, July 24, 2023.

After being examined in the AGO office as witnesses, SM and EVT were detained in Salemba penitentiary. According to the Head of Intelligence Assistant of AGO Sultra Ade Hermawan, SM and EVT have processed the issuance of a Work Plan and Budget of 1.5 million metric tonnes of nickel ore and several metric tonnes of other companies' nickel ore surrounding the Mandiodo Block without conducting the appropriate evaluation and verification process.

Ade said that granting PT KKP nickel processing quotas was not lawful. He said that PT KKP no longer has any nickel ore deposits since 2015, and the company had to sell documents to PT Lawu Agung Mining. PT Antam's concession was used for mining through an operational cooperation contract mechanism by PT Lawu Agung Mining.

In addition to the EMR Ministry officials, AGO has named 5 other suspects, namely Windu Aji Susanto (WAS) as the owner of PT Lawu Agung Mining, General Manager of PT Antam UPBN North Konawe (HW), field operator PT Lawu Agung Mining (GS), Director of PT Lawu Agung Mining (OFS), and the Director of PT KKP (AA).

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1751764/ago-names-two-ministry-officials-as-suspects-in-illegal-nickel-ore-mining-cas

Country