Bareskrim Ready to Support Corruption and Money Laundering Investigation into Coal Procurement

The Indonesian National Police’s Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) has stated it is ready to support the Police’s Corruption Eradication Corps (Kortastipidkor) in investigating a case of alleged corruption and money laundering related to the procurement of coal supply for several coal-fired power plants (PLTU) for the 2018–2026 period. “Of course, we from Bareskrim will fully support the follow-up to the inquiry process which has now been upgraded to an investigation,” said Head of Bareskrim, Commissioner General Syahardiantono, at the Bareskrim Building in Jakarta on Monday. He stated that Bareskrim, through its Directorate of Specific Crimes (Dittipidter), will assist Kortastipidkor investigators in the examination process, particularly regarding mining technicalities. “We will fully assist in the examination of witnesses and support Kortastipidkor, especially in examinations related to mining technicalities,” he said. Kortastipidkor upgraded the status of the alleged corruption and money laundering case from an inquiry to an investigation on Saturday (4/7). Head of Kortastipidkor, Inspector General Totok Suharyanto, said investigators found alleged irregularities in the procurement and fulfilment of coal supplies to the PLTUs by several companies involved, such as PT OBP and PT BRA. The alleged modus operandi in this case includes the manipulation of documents regarding the quality of the coal supplied, manipulation related to the quantity of coal supplied to the PLTUs, and irregularities resulting in payments or contract prices not matching the actual supply conditions. These schemes are also suspected of contributing to the disruption of coal supplies, which led to blackouts in several regions of Indonesia, including parts of Sumatra, parts of Kalimantan, Central Java, East Java, and parts of the Greater Jakarta area. As a result of these actions, combined with the economic losses related to the blackouts, state financial losses are indicated to be approximately Rp5 trillion. However, the real value of the state financial losses is currently in the process of being audited by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).