It has been over twelve years since the Montara H1-ST1 wellhead caught fire in 2009. The incident caused environmental damages to Indonesia’s coast. The companies involved insisted on their innocence. Representatives of the affected people and farmers filed a class-action lawsuit in the Australian Federal Court. In Indonesia, the Government also tried several means to demand the parties be held accountable. The last time we reported on the proceedings was last year, when the Court gave a very satisfying result. However, the Court’s judgment is meaningless if the companies involved deny responsibility. So far, the farmers have not received the compensation they should have received. The Indonesian Government is drafting a Presidential Regulation (Perpres) that will be used as a legal basis to sue the parties involved.

Last year we witnessed the trial of 13 corporate suspects in the corruption case involving State-owned insurance company PT Asuransi Jiwasraya (Persero). In the evening of Aug. 16, 2021, the Panel of Judges decided to annul the indictment of the case, demanding the prosecutors to submit the dockets separately for each company. At first, the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) objected to the decision and pledged to resist. Later, the AGO accepted the decision. Court proceedings continued. Towards the end of last week, the Panel of Judges declared PT Sinarmas Asset Management guilty. 

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has been very busy recently. After proudly exposing corruption at the state-owned insurance firm Asuransi Jiwasraya, the AGO continues to uncover similar cases in State-owned enterprises (BUMN). Interestingly, several ongoing cases are related to the case that occurred in Asuransi Jiwasraya. On March 29, 2022, the AGO announced the progress related to the alleged corruption case at Taspen Life and named two suspects. In the chronology of the case described, a familiar name was mentioned.

Franky Tjahyadikarta, the figure behind some of Indonesia’s most luxurious travel stays, including PT Bukit Uluwatu Villa Tbk (BUVA), is currently in a period of debt restructuring (PKPU) after voluntarily submitting a PKPU petition on himself. Although this action deserves appreciation, the process is not easy. With the value of incoming bills reaching more than Rp2 trillion, the peace proposal offered by Franky has not been able to satisfy all creditors. Towards the end of last week, the creditors again approved the request for an extension of time. The Panel of Judges will confirm this decision in a hearing scheduled today, March 28, 2022.