Golkar Politician Slams PDI-P's Deddy Sitorus for 'Baseless' Remarks in Coal Corruption Case

House of Representatives (DPR) Commission III member from the Golkar Party faction, Soedeson Tandra, has urged PDI-P politician Deddy Yevri Sitorus not to make careless statements regarding the investigation into an alleged coal governance corruption case that has ensnared former Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus), Febrie Adriansyah. Soedeson assessed that Deddy’s statement calling for an examination of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Minister Bahlil Lahadalia was a tendentious act not based on accurate data. “Firstly, Mr Deddy Sitorus’s statement is tendentious; secondly, it is misleading or misinformation; thirdly, it is baseless. He commented without sufficient data, without knowing the true facts of the case,” Soedeson said in Jakarta on Monday (13/7/2026). Soedeson explained that the issue of coal supply for PT PLN (Persero) was purely a business-to-business (B2B) relationship between PLN and its suppliers. According to him, there was no direct relevance requiring the ESDM Minister to be examined in this matter. Soedeson revealed that the ‘rot’ within PLN that triggered state losses and blackouts was related to fraudulent practices in procurement, not ministerial policy. “PLN’s rot is called under-invoicing, under-quantity, under-price. For example, the required calorific value should be 4,200, but what is supplied is below that. This is a game that has the potential to harm state finances. Where is the minister’s involvement there?” he asserted. He also warned Deddy Sitorus to better understand the issue before launching criticism in the public sphere. “He is a DPR member; he shouldn’t speak carelessly,” said Soedeson, who is also the Chairman of Golkar for Central Papua. As is known, the National Police Headquarters has named former Jampidsus Febrie Adriansyah (FA) as a suspect in the alleged coal governance corruption case. This case is suspected to be the main cause of widespread blackouts in several regions of Sumatra. The alleged corruption in coal procurement for coal-fired power plants (PLTU) is estimated to have caused state losses of up to Rp5 trillion. In addition to the coal case, Febrie is also implicated in a series of corruption and money laundering cases at two other state-owned enterprises, namely PT Asabri and PT Krakatau Steel. The total state losses from these three major cases combined reach a staggering figure of Rp34.6 trillion. In detail, corruption in fund management at PT Asabri caused state losses of Rp22.78 trillion, while the case at PT Krakatau Steel resulted in losses of approximately Rp6.9 trillion. Previously, through a post on his Facebook account, Deddy Sitorus launched sharp criticism regarding this coal imbroglio. He called for the ESDM Minister to be the first person investigated. “If you want to investigate the imbroglio and corruption in coal, the first person who must be examined is the ESDM Minister, the sticky rice cake! That’s where the source of the problem is, from what I hear!” Deddy wrote in his post on Sunday (12/7/2026).