Attorney General's Office Pursues Giver of Rp1.5 Billion Fee to Ombudsman Chairman Hery Susanto

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) claims to be pursuing the individual who provided a Rp1.5 billion fee to Ombudsman Chairman Hery Susanto in the corruption case concerning the governance of nickel mining from 2013 to 2025.

Director of Investigation for the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, stated that they have not yet named any suspects from the private entity PT TSHI.

“Not yet (named as suspects), we are still searching (for the fee giver),” he said when contacted via text message on Thursday (16/4).

Syarief explained that the case began when PT TSHI encountered issues with the Ministry of Forestry (Kemenhut) regarding the calculation of Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP).

The mining company then contacted Hery to find a solution. Hery, who was then serving as an Ombudsman Commissioner, issued a special recommendation letter to correct Kemenhut’s policy.

“Thus, the letter or policy by Kemenhut was corrected by the Ombudsman with an order for PT TSHI to calculate its own payable obligations,” he clarified.

He explained that in return, Hery received Rp1.5 billion from the Director of PT TSHI. Through that letter, he said, the previously applicable Kemenhut policy was also cancelled.

For his actions, Hery has been charged under Articles 12 letter a, 12 letter b, Article 5, and Article 606 of the Criminal Code. He has also been immediately detained at the Salemba Detention Centre branch of the South Jakarta District Prosecutor’s Office for the next 20 days.