The Government through the Ministry of Environment and Forestry finally won a civil lawsuit filed against a company suspected of starting forest fire. After nearly half a year of trial, on August 11, 2016, the Panel of Judges of the South Jakarta District Court decided to partially grant the lawsuit against PT National Sago Prima (NSP). NSP was found guilty for damaging the environment.

The Corruption Court of the Central Jakarta District Court held the last hearing for the trial of the former Director General of Sea Transportation in the Ministry of Transportation Bobby Mamahit on August 10, 2016, 2016. Bobby was allegedly involved in the corruption of the Phase III Development of the Education and Training Center for Marine Studies (BP21P).

More than a year has passed since PT Jaba Garmindo was officially declared bankrupt by the Commercial Court of the Central Jakarta District Court. Nevertheless, problems related to the Company’s insolvency proceedings still linger. Four months after Jaba Garmindo was declared bankrupt, two of its creditors filed a lawsuit against the team of curators and five other parties disputing the auction of assets. But on August 10, 2016, the long awaited lawsuit was declined by the Panel of Judges of the Central Jakarta District Court and the creditors were left disappointed.

The Supreme Court decide to reject the petition for cassation filed by the senior advocate Otto Cornelis (OC) Kaligis, who’s been found guilty of bribing three judges and one registrar of the Medan State Administrative Court (PTUN Medan). With this decision, the Assembly of Cassation decided to once again aggravate Kaligis’ sentence.

The debt dispute between PT Grahalintas Properti against one of its creditors PT Bank CIMB Niaga Tbk (BNGA) continues. In the last meeting of creditors held on August 8, 2016, the creditors agreed to grant Grahalintas an extension of 60 days. The Company stated that it would the additional time to study and fulfill the requirements BNGA demanded, one of which is to have a personal guarantee from Samin Tan.

After two months of proceeding, on August 10, 2016 the Corruption Court of the Central Jakarta District Court heard the demands of the prosecutors in the case against the former President Director of PT Agung Podomoro Land Tbk (APLN) Ariesman Widjaja and his aide Trinanda Prihantoro. Both men were accused of bribing the member of the Jakarta Regional Representatives Council (DPRD Jakarta) Mohamad Sanusi with the expectation that Sanusi would help guide the deliberation on the draft regional regulations (Raperda) concerning reclamation in Jakarta in APLN’s favor.

The process of Suspension of Debts Payment (PKPU) for PT Trikomsel Oke Tbk (TRIO) is still ongoing. In the hearing held on June 16, 2016, the panel of judges of the Commercial Court of the Central Jakarta District Court decided to grant the Company its application for extension of time for PKPU. TRIO will have 45 more days after August 1 (until September 15) to revise their proposal.

In May 2016 two companies under the management of Lippo Group, Lippo Limited (HKEX.00226) and Lippo China Resources (HKEX.00156), together with the LCR Group, made a joint announcement that a bankruptcy petition was filed by certain creditors against CS Mining LLC, the valuable strategic partner of the Group. On August 4, 2016, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah granted the petition. The case reminds us of Lippo Group’s engagement in the mining industry in Indonesia.

The House of Representatives (DPR) had five periods of deliberation for the 2015-2016 calendar. And yet they lawmakers have only managed to show a slight increase in performance when compared to 2014-2015 calendar of deliberation. For 2014-2015 had entered 41 Bills in the list of prioritized legislation for 2015, but only 3 of the Bills were deliberated into Law:

After nearly a year of investigation, in July 2016 the Riau Regional Police (Polda Riau) decided to issue a Warrant for the Termination of Investigation (SP3) to 15 companies with plantation and forestry license that were previously accused of being the perpetrators of the 2015 forest fires. Many quickly expressed their disappointment, especially remembering that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had clearly promised firm punishment for the perpetrator of what was considered to be the worst forest fire in Indonesia’s history. That said, the objections seem to have waned, perhaps because of the flurry of other issues that has come since. So where are we today with this issue? Has the SP3 closed the chapter?