Former Ombudsman Chair Hery Susanto to Face Trial Over Mining Corruption Case

The Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung) has officially transferred the former Chair of the Ombudsman, Hery Susanto (HS), to the South Jakarta District Attorney’s Office for immediate court registration. The Head of the Legal Information Centre at the Attorney General’s Office, Anang Supriatna, stated that this second stage—the handover of suspects and evidence—was carried out by investigators from the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes on Monday (8/6).

“The investigative team at Jampidsus conducted the handover of suspect HS and physical evidence to the Public Prosecutor team at the South Jakarta District Attorney’s Office,” he said in a written statement on Tuesday (9/6).

In relation to the corruption case involving nickel mining governance in the Southeast Sulawesi (Sultra) region for the 2013-2025 period, investigators have examined 38 witnesses and two experts. Furthermore, investigators conducted searches at several locations in Jakarta, uncovering various documents and electronic evidence.

Previously, Hery Susanto was named a suspect in the nickel mining governance corruption case. The Director of Investigation for the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, stated that Hery played a role in issuing letters that corrected the amount of non-tax state revenue (PNBP) from the Ministry of Forestry. Hery allegedly manipulated the Ministry of Forestry’s records to make it appear that the fines issued to PT TSHI were erroneous. Consequently, a correction letter was issued by the Ombudsman, instructing PT TSHI to conduct its own calculation regarding the payments owed to the state. For actions that benefited PT TSHI, Syarief noted that Hery received a reward of Rp1.5 billion in 2025.