Accepting Rp 3 Billion, Noel Ebenezer Claims It Is Halal Money from Helping Handle Sultan Kemenaker's Case

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Former Deputy Minister of Manpower (Wamenaker) Immanuel Ebenezer, alias Noel, considers the money given by the Coordinator of the Occupational Safety and Health Institution and Personnel Division of the Ministry of Manpower for 2022-2025, Irvian Bobby Mahendro, amounting to Rp 3 billion, as halal income. Noel views this money as a fee or reward for helping Bobby, nicknamed Sultan Kemenaker, to handle matters at the Prosecutor’s Office. “Then, because I received a fee from that, in my opinion, that defines it as actually halal money,” Noel stated during the trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Tuesday (21/4/2026). Noel said that Bobby first approached him when there was an examination by the Prosecutor’s Office. Noel felt he could communicate Bobby’s requests to the relevant parties. “And at that time, because I had good communication with several institutions, as we were in the cabinet, I was able to communicate that,” Noel said. Noel emphasised that he was unaware of any extortion practices or non-technical fee collections as alleged by the Public Prosecutors (JPU) from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in the alleged corruption case of extortion in handling K3 certificates. However, he denied ever extorting anyone. “So, once again, Your Honour, I admit my mistake. Because I had no motivation related to extortion, asking for shares, money, and so on,” Noel said. During his time as an assistant to President Prabowo, Noel claimed he focused on solving problems faced by workers. One of them was resolving the issue of withheld diplomas. “Because my focus at that time was only on mitigating labour problems, workers, and so on. The practice of withholding diplomas, other labour crimes,” he added.