Last year, legal counsel of Vinmar Overseas Ltd, placed an announcement at national newspaper, stating the planned execution of assets of PT Sumi Asih/PT Sumi Asih Oleochemical Industry. The dispute was among the longest legal disputes in the country, involving various overseas jurisdictions. However, after the announcement, nothing really happened. Recently, we learned that Vinmar finally resort to another legal remedy as the company file a new lawsuit to the Central Jakarta District Court.

In 2010, the former Commander of the Defense and Security Headquarters Corps, Lieutenant General (Ret) TNI, Herman Sarens Sudiro, was arrested by the Military Police of the Greater Jakarta Military Region Command. Herman, who was more than 80 years old at that time, was arrested for embezzling TNI assets. The case was then dismissed because Herman’s health condition deteriorated in the same year, not long after, Herman died.

Less than two months ago, the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) announced an investigation into the case related to the Duta Palma, one of the largest plantation business groups controlled by fugitive of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Surya Darmadi. This week, the AGO announced that they had named two suspects in the case, namely Surya Darmadi and the former Regent of Indragiri Hulu – who is a graft convict, Raja Thamsir Rachman. The AGO also named Surya as suspect on allegation of money laundering.

The legal basis and registration obligations imposed on Private Electronic System Operators (PSE Privat) finally caused mayhem as expected. After the deadline set by the Government was passed towards the end of last week, the Ministry of Communications and Informatics immediately block the access to seven PSEs including online gaming platform, Steam, and PayPal.

There are several provisions in Permenkominfo 5/2020 that do cause controversy. The first was the provisions in Art. 21 and several following articles. Art. 21 states that PSE Privat are obligated to provide access to Electronic Systems and/or Electronic Data to Law Enforcement Officials in the context of law enforcement in accordance with statutory regulations. 

The legal basis and registration obligations imposed on Private Electronic System Operators (PSE Privat) were drawn up many years ago. The registration process started a year ago, all without much attention. However, a week before the end of the registration period, all of a sudden the PSE registration process was highlighted. The public were enraged especially knowing that PSEs who did not register were threatened with access blocking sanctions, while large PSEs such as Google have not registered themselves. Fear arose about the possible loss of internet access.

Aksi Cepat Tanggap (ACT), a social organization that collects donations with a religious background, became widely known in 2009. The actions of its volunteers who saved residents on the slopes of Mount Merapi which erupted in 2010 were very heroic and are still etched in our memories, considering we experienced this disaster firsthand. Since then, the name ACT has been closely associated with every natural disaster that occurs. This institution always seems to be at the forefront of providing assistance. However, in early July 2022, Tempo Magazine highlighted the alleged misappropriation of public funds by ACT.

Former Regent of Tanah Bumbu, Mardani Maming,  was made a suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) at the end of June 2022. Mardani, who is now the general treasurer of the Nahdlatul Ulama Executive Board (PBNU), quickly got help from this largest Islamic organization. In addition to being accompanied by a team of legal counsel from organizational aid agencies, Mardani was also accompanied by two interesting figures, Bambang Widjojanto and Denny Indrayana, a former commissioner of the KPK and a former deputy minister of Law and Human Rights, respectively. Mardani is challenging the KPK decision to named him a suspect in an ongoing pre-trial lawsuit and refused to be examined. On July 26, 2022, Mardani was officially on the fugitive list. What a mess.

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) surprisingly announced that it had investigated allegations of corruption at PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (Persero) (PT PLN) related to the procurement and construction of transmission tower involving private sector. The process has been escalated to the inquisition stage. Along with this announcement, the AGO conducted a series of witness examinations and searches at several locations including the PT Bukaka Teknik Utama Tbk (BUKK) office. This announcement reminds us of the ambitious 35,000 MW power project.

PT Angkasa Transportindo Selaras (PT ATS), was a subsidiary of Lion Air Group when we reported that they won the dispute against PT Angkasa Pura II (Persero) (APII) related to the management of Halim Perdanakusuma Airport. The Supreme Court (MA) declined APII’s application for Reconsideration (PK), effectively recognizing ATS as the manager of the airport, but that was back in 2016. It takes a lot more effort to actually execute the verdict that even PT ATS was already acquired by other company in 2020. Last week, the concerned parties reportedly agreed to implement the verdict, now PT ATS has officially become the new airport manager.