Convicted of Guilt, 8 Kemnaker Civil Servants Proven to Extort 20 Companies for TKA Permits Up to Rp130 Billion

The panel of judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor) has convicted eight defendants, all civil servants (ASN) from the Ministry of Manpower (Kemnaker), of extorting more than 20 agents and companies handling foreign worker employment plan permits (RPTKA) for a total of Rp130.51 billion over the period from 2017 to 2025.

The eight defendants include Suhartono, Director General of Placement Development for Workers and Expansion of Employment Opportunities (Dirjen Binapenta and PKK) at Kemnaker from 2020 to 2023, along with three staff members from the Directorate of Control for Foreign Worker Use (PPTKA) under Dirjen Binapenta and PKK at Kemnaker from 2019 to 2024: Putri Citra Wahyoe, Jamal Shodiqin, and Alfa Eshad.

Further defendants are Devi Angraeni, Coordinator for RPTKA Eligibility Testing from 2020 to 2024 and Director of PPTKA at Kemnaker from 2024 to 2025, as well as Gatot Widiartono, Head of the Subdirectorate for Maritime and Agriculture under Dirjen Binapenta and PKK from 2019 to 2021, and Coordinator for Foreign Worker Analysis and Control in the PPTKA Directorate under Dirjen Binapenta and PKK at Kemnaker from 2021 to 2025.

Additionally, Haryanto, Dirjen Binapenta and PKK at Kemnaker from 2024 to 2025 and Director of PPTKA at Kemnaker from 2019 to 2024, and Wisnu Pramono, Director of PPTKA at Kemnaker from 2017 to 2019.

“There were 1.14 million RPTKA endorsements at the PPTKA Directorate of Kemnaker, of which 95 percent involved unofficial payments to expedite the RPTKA approval process by PPTKA officials,” stated Judge Ida Ayu during the reading of the panel’s verdict at the Tipikor Court in the Central Jakarta District Court on Wednesday.

Judge Ida explained that by paying these sums to speed up RPTKA permit processing, the RPTKA agents and companies could gain benefits. With the accelerated approval process reducing the time from the previous 7-14 days to less than seven days, companies and agents could earn higher fees for RPTKA handling services from user companies and attract more clients.

Judge Ida noted that to obtain this expedited RPTKA permit processing, companies or agents would pay between Rp300,000 and Rp800,000 per foreign worker. “Payments were made either in cash or by transfer,” said Judge Ida.