East Java Attorney General's Office Seizes Rp2.36 Billion in Alleged Mining Permit Extortion Case

From searches at several locations, investigators secured a sum of cash and permitting documents. The money came from three suspects who have been detained. Surabaya (ANTARA) - The East Java High Prosecutor’s Office seized Rp2.36 billion in a corruption case involving alleged illicit levies on mining permits, implicating officials from the local Energy and Mineral Resources Office (ESDM). “From searches at several locations, investigators secured a sum of cash and permitting documents. The money came from three suspects who have been detained,” said Assistant for Special Crimes at the East Java High Prosecutor’s Office, Wagiyo, in Surabaya on Friday. He explained that the Rp2,369,239,765.49 was seized from three suspects: AM, the Head of the East Java ESDM Office; OS, the Head of the Mining Division at the East Java ESDM Office; and H, the Head of the Groundwater Business Working Team. Meanwhile, Rp1.64 billion in cash was seized from suspect OS, while Rp229.68 million was seized from suspect H from one bank account. In addition to the money, investigators also secured various electronic evidence, including transfer records, WhatsApp conversations, permitting documents, and statements from permit applicants. In this case, investigators found that the permitting process, which should be conducted through the Online Single Submission (OSS) system, was allegedly deliberately delayed. Permit applicants reportedly faced obstacles in the issuance process, even when requirements were complete, unless they paid a certain amount of money.