Earlier this month the Corruption Court of the Central Jakarta District Court listened to the demands of the prosecutors for Irvanto Hendra “Ivan” Pambudi Cahyo and Made Oka Masagung. The two men are the latest defendants in the electronic identity card (E-KTP) procurement graft case. On November 21, 2018, the two men read their defense plea. As expected, both men still tried to avoid punishment by pointing fingers to other names.  

The Corruption Court of the Central Jakarta District Court has declared Fayakhun Andriadi guilty. He’s sentenced to 8 years imprisonment. Fayakhun was ensnared in the corruption scheme involving officials of the Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla), but even though the trial is over and Fayakhun is the last defendant in the case, there are still many unanswered questions.

Several months ago, we thought that the dispute over the leadership of the Indonesian National Arbitration Board (BANI) was over as the Supreme Court had ruled in favor of BANI Mampang (referred to the nickname given by the media). The authorized party, i.e., the Ministry of Law and Human Rights should have executed the said verdict and revoke the Minister’s decision to legalize the establishment of the BANI Sovereign, but something odd happened. BANI Mampang published an announcement on November 1, 2018. Last week, it was BANI Sovereign’s turn to take the dispute to the State Administrative Court, demanding the court to cancel the said Minister decision.  

On November 19, 2018, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo) said they would decide on whether PT Internux, the operator of BOLT, and its parent company PT First Media Tbk (KBLV) would be able to use the frequency they’ve been using to provide their services. We all know that the two companies neglected their obligations to pay frequency usage fees for three years since 2016. The due date was November 17, 2018 and even after three summons, the two companies did not fulfill their obligations. They even dared to sue the Ministry in return. That being said, on November 19, 2018, KBLV decided to withdraw their lawsuit. Internux also reportedly will withdraw their lawsuit on November 22, 2018.

It has been more than three years after the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) won the battle of Reconsideration (PK) against Yayasan Supersemar, a foundation belonging to the family of former President Soeharto, where the foundation was ordered to pay compensation to the State losses amounted to Rp4.4 trillion. At first, the verdict cannot be executed because the foundation decided to fight back and filed for a tort lawsuit in January 2016. In 2017, the Supreme Court decided in favor of the AGO and rejected the tort lawsuit in the stage of cassation. But even after all the trouble, the AGO still have to face difficulties in executing the verdicts, especially because the value of assets supposedly owned by the foundation worth no more than Rp300 billion.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) conducted another sting operation in the dawn of November 18, 2018, in three different places. Several people were arrested, including the Regent of Pakpak Bharat one Remigo Yolando Berutu. In the evening of the same day, the KPK officially named Remigo and two other as suspects in the case of alleged bribery. This is the third sting operation conducted in North Sumatera this year. Remigo is the second regent of North Sumatera named a graft suspect.

PT Internux, the operator of BOLT, was able to come up with an agreement with their creditors over their period of temporary Suspension of Debts Payment (PKPU) and the peace agreement was promulgated last week. But the speedy process has left many questions that the Ministry of Communication and Informatics decide to file a cassation. In addition to the PKPU process, we previously reported that Internux and its parent company PT First Media Tbk (KBLV) also filed two separate lawsuits against the Ministry over a similar dispute: their obligation to pay for the radio frequency Right to Use (BHP). The Minister of Communication and Informatics Rudiantara spoke about the dispute several days before Internux’s peace agreement was promulgated and he sounded enraged because of the lawsuits filed against his Ministry. On November 19, 2018, the Ministry decided to revoke Internux and KBLV’s license to use the frequency.

Last week, the Singapore International Commercial Court published the decision on the dispute between Arovin Ltd and one Vijay Goradia against one Hadiran Sridjaja. The decision mentions that the plaintiffs seek various further and better particulars on several issues mentioned in the defendant’s defense. Vivian Ramsey IJ who examined the case decided to order that particulars should be given to seven points of the defense within two weeks.

A week after Lion Air flight JT-610 (registration code PK-LQP) crashed into the Tanjung Karawang sea on October 29, 2018, the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) announced a suspicion that the crash was caused by damage to the Angle of Attack (AOA) sensor component. In response to that, the Boeing Company issued a Flight Crew Operations Manual Bulletin with an intriguing subject: “Uncommanded Nose Down Stabilizer Trim Due To Erronous Angle of Attack (AOA) During Manual Flight Only”. The series of events prompted H. Irianto, father of Rio Nanda Pratama, one of the victims in the tragedy, to file a lawsuit against the Boeing Company, on November 14, 2018.

After years of investigation and inquisition, on November 14, 2018, the Corruption Court of the Central Jakarta District Court read the verdict for the former Head of Data and Information System Unit at the Ministry of Home Affairs one Dudy Jocom, who was named a suspect of graft in the construction of the Institute of Public Administration’s (IPDN) faculty building in 2016. Dudy was declared guilty, but the punishment given by the Panel of Judges are only half of the punishment demanded by the prosecutors.