BREAKING NEWS! Attorney General's Office Designates Ombudsman Chairman as Corruption Suspect in Nickel Mining Governance
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Republic of Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has arrested and designated Hery Susanto, Chairman of the Republic of Indonesia Ombudsman, as a suspect in a criminal corruption case concerning the management of nickel mining business in Southeast Sulawesi (Sultra).
Head of the AGO’s Legal Information Centre, Anang Supriatna, stated that the suspect designation is based on evidence found by investigators.
“The investigative team has designated suspect HS,” said Anang during a press conference at the AGO, Jakarta, on Thursday (16/4/2026).
The company then collaborated with Hery to find a way out of the issue.
The method involved arranging for a policy made by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to be corrected by the Ombudsman, with instructions for PT TSHI to perform its own calculation of the required payment burden.
“To carry out this, the suspect received a sum of money from Mr LKM, who is the director of PT TSHI; the amount already handed over by this individual is approximately Rp 1.5 billion,” said Syarief.
For his actions, Hery is suspected of violating Article 12 letter a, Article 12 letter b, Article 5, and Article 606 of the Criminal Code.
Based on Kompas.com observations, Hery exited the AGO’s Round Building around 11:19 WIB wearing the distinctive pink vest for suspects designated by the Attorney General’s Office.
With his hands cuffed, Hery was escorted by several investigators from the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) of the AGO into a detention vehicle.
He is being detained for the next 20 days at the Attorney General’s Office Detention House.
The oath-taking process for Hery and other Ombudsman officials was witnessed by President Prabowo Subianto at the State Palace, Presidential Palace Complex, Central Jakarta, on Friday (10/4/2026).
According to the official Ombudsman website, Hery was previously a member of the Republic of Indonesia Ombudsman for the 2021–2026 period and was re-elected through the fitness and propriety test by Commission II of the DPR RI in January 2026.