Last week the Jakarta State Administrative Court registered a lawsuit filed by PT Indosat Tbk (ISAT), a company in the process of divesting over 3,000 telco towers, against the Minister of Communication and Informatics. The court did not disclose all information related to the lawsuit other than that the Company demanded the court to annul a decree issued by the Minister back in April 2019. What is going on?

On July 25, 2019, Bisnis Indonesia reported that one Kusnadi Rahardja filed a tort lawsuit against PT Sushi-Tei Indonesia. From the news we learn that Kusnadi was Sushi-Tei’s president director recently dismissed from the Company. Kusnadi seems to have been fired without going through the proper mechanism and now he demanded compensation amounted to over Rp500 billion. In addition to suing Sushi-Tei Indonesia, Kusnadi also sues dozens of other parties, including Singapore-based Mizuho Asia Partners Pte Ltd.

The past month has been a very busy month for PT Karya Teknik Utama (KTU), who together with PT Kawasan Berikat Nusantara (Persero) (KBN)—state owned bonded zone operator—founded PT Karya Citra Nusantara (KCN)—supposed to be the manager of the Marunda port in North Jakarta. After maintaining their low profile image, the dispute with their own partner forced the Company to step forward and explain the situation from their own perspective. But although the parties are struggling to win favor from the court and other stakeholders, thanks to the dispute, the public who initially weren’t so aware with the importance of anything related to port management, now begin to discuss the case. Now we notice that there are so many important aspects in port management that equally important, other than US$4 billion compensation demanded by KBN, and cannot be ignored.

Two months ago the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court begin the trial of the bribees in the Drinking Water Supply System (SPAM) construction projects, all of the defendants are civil servants under the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing. Despite the importance of the case, the trial went relatively quiet and far from spotlight. Last week the prosecutors of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) had read their demands for the defendants and on July 24, 2019 the bribees read their plea.

State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina has been busy handling the impact of a gas leakage from its Offshore North West Java (ONWJ) block. US company Boot & Coots, with experience in handling similar cases in the Gulf of Mexico, has been hired to mitigate the environmental impacts. How about the companies owning and operating the troubled rig?

By the end of June 2019, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) carried out a sting operation at several places including the Jakarta High Prosecutors’ Office (Kejati Jakarta) and arrested several people including prosecutors. The KPK named three suspects in the case but decided to “return” two prosecutors arrested during the operation to their institution, stating that the prosecutors were involved in a different case. Both the KPK and the Attorney General’s Office refused to explain further and continue examining witnesses. The examinations conducted the past week finally revealed the case, which started the whole mess.

An oil spill disaster took place in Balikpapan bay back in March 31, 2018. The cause of the incident was an anchor dropped by MV Ever Judger to the area where an underwater pipeline owned by PT Pertamina (Persero) is located. As a result of this incident, oil spilled into the sea and triggered fire and claimed the lives of 5 local fishermen. Since the incident, the vessel’s captain has been found guilty, and sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Balikpapan District Court. But until now, this incident still leaves a large ecological impact on the ecosystem and the inhabitants around the bay. Several parties who acted on behalf of the Balikpapan residents recently filed a citizen lawsuit against six State institutions that they considered negligent in solving this problem. Meanwhile, last week, the Minister of Environment and Forestry also filed a lawsuit against several parties, including Pertamina and Ever Judger Holding Company Limited, over the same incident.

On July 19, 2019, PT Bank Sinarmas Tbk (BSIM) issued a disclosure of information regarding the involvement of the Company in the investigation process related to alleged corruption in the management of assets owned by West Lombok regency government on which Lombok City Center (LCC) is now located. The investigation into this case was carried out by the West Nusa Tenggara High Prosecutor’s Office. It was unknown to many, although this case is widely reported in Lombok’s local media.

Towards the end of last week, we were presented with an unacceptable act happened during a hearing in the Central Jakarta District Court thanks to one Desrizal Chaniago who is the legal counsel representing Tomy Winata (the Artha Graha patron) in a legal battle related to the dispute over the debt-claiming rights (cessie) involving PT Geria Wijaya Prestige (GWP) and several other parties. During the hearing in question, he assaulted two judges, causing commotion and because of that the hearing was suspended. Desrizal had been named suspect in this case. But after the incident, the hearing continued and as suspected, the Panel of Judges decided to not granting Tomy’s lawsuit. This is probably what enraged Desrizal. The case became talk of the town and we finally re-read the chronology of the dispute in several copies of verdicts made available by the Supreme Court. Interesting to look at the dispute from another perspective.

In the second month of 2019, hundreds of Grab Indonesia’s individual partners for the Grab Car service rallied in Medan, North Sumatera, questioning the Company’s attitude which they considered discriminatory because the Company tend to prioritizing partners affiliated with PT Teknologi Pengangkutan Indonesia, a car rental company that collaborates with Grab in providing the fleet. The incident triggered a further examination by the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU).