Attorney General's Office Probes Involvement of State Officials in West Kalimantan Bauxite IUP Case

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Attorney General’s Office (Kejaksaan Agung) has uncovered suspected involvement of state officials in a corruption case concerning the governance of mining business permits (IUP) for bauxite at PT Quality Sukses Sejahtera (QSS) in West Kalimantan for the 2017-2025 period.

Director of Investigations at the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus), Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, said PT QSS collaborated with state officials to enable mining at locations where it should not. ‘So essentially PT QSS obtained an IUP, but the person concerned did not mine at the location granted, instead mined elsewhere, which was sold for export using documents from PT QSS in collaboration with state officials,’ Syarief said at a press conference on Thursday night (21 May 2026).

Syarief emphasised that the suspect’s role was not only as the owner of the company, but also in direct control of mining activities that are alleged to breach the law. ‘The role is that the suspect conducts bauxite mining outside the IUP that was granted, yes, and collaborates with, of course, with state officials,’ he added.

Asked about allegations of bribes in the case, Syarief did not disclose details yet. ‘We will disclose later, but what is clear is that it involves collaboration with state officials,’ he said.

The Kejagung has not yet disclosed which agency or state official is suspected of involvement. Investigators are still examining several witnesses.

‘Clearly, as of now, we are still conducting examinations; the investigations are not finished,’ Syarief said.

As a result of these actions, the state is alleged to have suffered losses that are currently being calculated by the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP).

In this case, the suspects are charged under Article 603 and Article 604 of Republic of Indonesia Law Number 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code (KUHP).