The commotion that we have witnessed for months ago has finally reached its breaking point. The Koalisi Indonesia Maju (KIM), which is nominating Prabowo Subianto, the current defense minister, as its presidential candidate, officially nominates Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the current mayor of Surakarta, son of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, and a PDIP cadre. as its vice presidential candidate. After the announcement was made by the general chairs of the coalition member parties, the commotion continued, with accusations regarding political maneuvers allegedly carried out by President Jokowi with the help of his brother-in-law, Anwar Usman, the current chief of the Constitutional Court. We know that recently the Constitutional Court granted the Judicial Review application which ultimately changed the norms of the law so that Gibran, who is only 36 years old, could finally be nominated as Vice President. There are many questions that are still being debated and are important to understand.

Trial of Lukas Enembe, the disgraced governor of Papua, who is standing trial as a defendant in a case of alleged bribery and graft, has reached the finish line. The Panel of Judges found Lukas guilty as per the charges. Lukas immediately appealed but we all know that...

The disgraced Supreme Court Justice, Justice Gazalba Saleh, who was supposedly involved in the allegation of case brokers that rocked the Supreme Court was acquitted by the Panel of Judges of the notorious Corruption Court at the Bandung District Court. There was nothing surprising because this is not the first time this court has acquitted a graft defendant. KPK tried to appeal, but the Supreme Court, unsurprisingly, decided in favor of the previous court decision. Gazalba Saleh is free, for now.

In September 2023, the Commercial Court at the Makassar District Court surprised us. The court accepted the lawsuit for Suspension of Debt Payment (PKPU) filed by CV Surya Mas against State EPC firm PT Pembangunan Perumahan (Persero) Tbk (PTPP). PTPP is then required to follow the temporary PKPU process. Interestingly, the court recently announced that the process had been annulled and the PKPU status was revoked. But even though the process has been stopped, there are questions that remain.

Back in July 2023 the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) uncovered a case of alleged corruption which caused an unexpected drama. The operation was conducted related to an alleged corruption in a project belonging to the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), then the KPK officially named five suspects in this case, including the Chief of Basarnas, Air Marshal Henri Alfiandi. Henri allegedly received grafts worth a whooping Rp88 billion (nearly US$6 million) in just two years. Amidst the public’s shock, however, the TNI caused a commotion. They protested the KPK’s decision because two suspects were active military officers. After facing backlash from the public, the situation calmed down a bit and the two institutions agreed to work together. This week the trial of the civil suspects began. 

The first batch of suspects in the BAKTI case, the case of alleged corruption related to a project at the Ministry of Communication and Informatics, had faced trial since June 2023. A lot of interesting things emerged in the indictment when all eyes were on former...

Back in 2020, the Ministry of State Secretariat coordinated with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to regulate and recover the State property under its care following an audit provided by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK). Among the State property in question, there is one infamous dispute between the Government and PT Indobuildco, the company who manages the Sultan Hotel & Residence, formerly known as the Hilton Hotel complex.

PT iGrow Resources Indonesia (iGrow), which claims to be the first agricultural peer to peer lending platform in Indonesia, finally had its turn to face problems as 40 of its investors filed a tort lawsuit to the South Jakarta District Court back in June 2023. The plaintiffs accused iGrow of defaulting. This is the second of such cases in the agribusiness lending business after previously TaniFund, the lending arm of the agritech company TaniHub, also faced default. In iGrow’s case, the mediation stage ended with no agreement between the parties, but luckily, the plaintiffs decided to withdraw the lawsuit.

The case in Hulu Sungai Tengah (HST), South Kalimantan was uncovered during the KPK’s sting operation in January 2018. Similar to the cases that ensnared the other regional leaders, the case was also related to construction projects conducted by the regional government but with illegal agreements with the contractors of the project. The suspicion is that PT Menara Agung Pusaka led by one Donny Witono agreed on a commitment fee with several parties, including the Regent of HST one Abdul Latif, to obtain a certain project. Commitment fee agreed to was 7.5 percent of the total value of the project or approximately Rp3.6 billion. To speed up the payment realization of the commitment fee, the Regent supposedly promised the Company to be given responsibility in another big project which would be conducted in 2018.