In 2017 we reported on the arbitration lawsuit submitted by the Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Limited (BSE: 533047). The Company filed a lawsuit at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) against the Government of Indonesia on the overlapping coal mining concession dispute. The case made headlines after Vice President Jusuf Kalla (JK) mentioned it while talking about regional government and abuse of power. On March 29, 2019, the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) announced that the Government had won the dispute.

It’s been a while since the last time we heard of the criminal allegations implicating PT Sentul City Tbk (BKSL). Previously we heard that the Company’s then-President Director Kwee Cahyadi Kumala a.k.a Swie Teng was prosecuted and found guilty of involvement in the corrupt conversion of forest area implicating the former Regent of Bogor Rachmat Yasin. Recently, the Company’s name made headlines for having a land dispute with the residents of Bojong Koneng village located in Babakan Madang, the regency of Bogor. The residents accused the Company of stealing their land. The Company denied the allegation. The police later entered the picture.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) conducted an intense Sting Operation from the midnight of March 27, 2019, to the morning of March 28, 2019. The investigators arrested eight individuals in total including one Bowo Sidik Pangarso (Golkar), member of the House Commission VI of the House of Representatives, who participated in the upcoming 2019 general election. The KPK announced the case on the evening of March 28, 2019, and said Bowo received bribes for in return for his assistance to PT Humpuss Transportasi Kimia so that the Company could be responsible for providing transportation for distribution of fertilizer produced by the subsidiary of PT Pupuk Indonesia Holding Company (Persero).

The former Minister of Social Affairs Idrus Marham, who is standing trial as a defendant in the Riau Power Plant graft case, read his defense plea on March 28, 2019. Idrus demanded the Panel of Judges to acquit him of all charges. Previously, the prosecutors demanded the Panel of Judges to punish Idrus to 5 years imprisonment. Meanwhile, the examination into the case that ensnared Samin Tan continues. Samin Tan, as we all know, was named a suspect as a result of a development of investigation into the Riau Power Plant graft case.

In the previous part of this series we look back on the history of the dispute between Churchill Mining Plc (NEX: CHL) and its wholly owned subsidiary Planet Mining Pty Ltd, and the Republic of Indonesia over Churchill’s exploration activities in the East Kutai Regency in East Kalimantan. We know that the parties presented their own arguments and the Tribunal ruled in favor of Indonesia. Churchill refused to admit defeat, so the Company filed an application for dismissal of the arbitration award in 2017, only to face another defeat as the Arbitral Tribunal decided to dismiss the annulment application in its entirety on March 18, 2019. The Company said that they invoked three grounds for annulment of the Award, as follows:

Back in October 2018, we wrote on the updates related to the case implicating Churchill Mining Plc (NEX: CHL), which also implicated Prabowo Subianto’s Nusantara Group after the Governor of East Kalimantan Isran Noor publicly endorsed Prabowo for the upcoming 2019 Presidential election. We all know that the dispute ended in 2016 with victory for the Government of Indonesia, but Churchill demanded annulment of award. At the time, the proceedings of the dispute was on the stage of examination. On March 18, 2019, the ad hoc Committee in the arbitration proceedings led by Judge Dominique Hascher finally published their decision and decided to dismiss Churchill’s application.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) made the Governor of Aceh Irwandi Yusuf a suspect of bribery following the sting operation conducted in July 2018. Other than Irwandi, the KPK also named three other suspects in the case. By October 2018, the KPK announced that they had named Irwandi a suspect in an additional graft case. Irwandi’s trial began on November 26, 2018, and on March 25, 2019, the prosecutors read their demands for Irwandi.

The Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) are still examining the allegation of conspiracy in the construction of the Kalimantan-Java gas pipeline (Kalija I). The latest hearing was held on March 25, 2019 and the next hearing is scheduled to be held on March 28, 2019. Meanwhile, the examination into the allegation of monopolistic practices in the Freight Container Service Industry on the Surabaya-Ambon route also continues. The latest hearing was held on March 21, 2019.

Several national media outlets reported on March 25, 2019, that the disgraced senior advocate Otto Cornelis “OC” Kaligis had once again filed a Reconsideration (PK) petition and wishes for his punishment to be diminished. OC Kaligis, as we all know, was convicted of being the mastermind behind the bribery case which brought down the former Governor of North Sumatera Gatot Pujo Nugroho. What the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) uncovered in 2015 as a “usual” bribery case turned into a huge corruption scheme which at a later stage of investigation brought down politicians and as many as 38 members of the North Sumatera DPRD (in addition to several leaders of the DPRD who had been convicted). The investigation, inquisition, and trials of the suspects and defendants continues to this day.