Month: November 2023

This week the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Mahfud MD, revealed the latest information regarding the investigation process into alleged crimes that occurred within the Ministry of Finance. The Money Laundering Task Force (Satgas TPPU), which was formed specifically to uncover the various criminal schemes, found initial evidence of a customs crime with a suspicious transaction value of a whooping Rp189 trillion. This announcement finally confirms what we have known all along.

The Indonesian Government, through the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, is still continuing the fight against forest fires and the parties deemed responsible. In recent months, dozens of companies have been investigated and given sanctions, the most recent being two companies related to the Bakrie Group. What is not surprising about this case is the fact that the companies said to be responsible this time are familiar names who were also said to be responsible for the devastating forest fires in 2019. Despite the many factors that cause forest fires, looking at these familiar names, it seems that no one has learned.

The first batch of suspects in the BAKTI case, the case of alleged corruption related to a project at the Ministry of Communication and Informatics, had faced trial since June 2023. A lot of interesting things emerged in the indictment when all eyes were on former Minister Johnny Plate, one of the witnesses even claimed that Johnny received Rp500 million every month from the BAKTI. The proceedings run smoothly despite several surprises and recently the prosecutors had read their demands for three alleged bribers. 

As we all know, the case in the predicate crime is closely related to the management dispute of Saving and Loan Cooperative Union (KSP) Intidana. In addition to the criminal case, Intidana was also sued in a civil dispute. The Semarang District Court has recorded 16 lawsuits since 2015 related to KSP Intidana, the majority of lawsuits from customers demanding that Intidana restructure its debt (PKPU). The PKPU lawsuit which was accepted and granted by the Court is the Case No. 10/PKPU/2015/PN SMg. It was the verdict in this case that became a source of trouble even seven years later. The Supreme Court decided on Intidana bankruptcy in July 2022 and the team of curators scheduled a time limit for bills submission until early September 2022. This was the decision made in exchange for the bribes and became the predicate crime.