Attorney General's Office Raids Multiple Locations in Samin Tan Corruption Case
The Attorney General’s Office has raided numerous locations spread across Jakarta, West Java, South Kalimantan, and Central Kalimantan to probe the alleged corruption case implicating Samin Tan, the beneficial owner of PT Asmin Koalindo Tuhup (AKT), which is suspected of causing losses to state finances.
One of the sites raided was PT Borneo Lumbung Energi & Metal (BLEM), owned by Samin Tan.
Based on sufficient evidence, the Attorney General’s Office has detained Samin Tan for the initial 20 days.
“The determination of the suspect was made after the investigation team obtained adequate evidence through a series of investigative actions, including examinations of witnesses and raids conducted in several regions, namely West Java, South Kalimantan, DKI Jakarta, and Central Kalimantan,” stated Director of Investigations for the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes (JAMPIDSUS) at the Attorney General’s Office, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, at his office in Jakarta on Saturday (28/3) in the early hours.
“And it should be noted that the raids are still ongoing, particularly in Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan,” he added.
Syarief explained that PT AKT continues mining operations until 2025, despite the termination having ended as per the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources’ Decree Number 3714 K/30/MEM/2017 dated 19 October 2017.
Samin Tan, through PT AKT and its affiliates, is alleged to have illegally continued mining and sales using invalid permit documents. They collaborated with state officials responsible for overseeing mining activities.
Syarief stated that they will seek legal accountability from the aforementioned state officials.
“For now, there are none (no suspects from state officials yet), but as I mentioned earlier, this constitutes a corruption offence due to the alleged collaboration with state officials,” he said.
Syarief noted that the illegal and unlawful mining activities are suspected to have caused losses to state finances. The value is still being calculated by the audit team from the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP).
For his actions, Samin Tan is charged under Article 603 or Article 604 in conjunction with Article 20 letter a or c of Law Number 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code (KUHP).
“Subsequently, the suspect ST [Samin Tan] has been detained for 20 days ahead at the Salemba Detention Centre Branch of the Attorney General’s Office,” Syarief said.
Samin Tan was previously prosecuted by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in a case of alleged bribery involving former Deputy Chair of Commission VII of the DPR, Eni Maulani Saragih.
The bribe was for facilitating the termination process of the Coal Mining Business Work Agreement (PKP2B) for PT AKT, a subsidiary of PT BLEM. Samin Tan was named a suspect by the KPK on 15 February 2019.
However, the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court (PN) and the Supreme Court (MA) acquitted Samin Tan. The reason was that Samin Tan was deemed a victim of extortion by Eni Saragih.
The cassation-level case for Samin Tan was heard by Chief Judge Suhadi with member judges Suharto and Ansori respectively. The verdict was read on Thursday, 9 June 2022.