Government Reportedly Demands Rp600 Billion Asset Guarantee from Sritex Post-Bankruptcy

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SEMARANG – Former president director of PT Sri Rejeki Isman Tbk (Sritex), Iwan Kurniawan Lukminto, has indicated that the alleged corruption case regarding credit provision to Sritex, which ultimately ensnared him, is political in nature. This is because Sritex, following its bankruptcy, was unable to meet the government’s demand for an asset guarantee or deposit of Rp600 billion to resume business activities under an operational cooperation scheme (KSO).

Kurniawan stated that he was deeply shocked when Sritex was declared insolvent (bankrupt) by the Semarang Commercial Court on 28 February 2025. After the decision, Kurniawan returned to Sukoharjo and gathered all Sritex workers to deliver a farewell message.

“One hour after the farewell, at 6:00 PM WIB, I received a call from one of the high-ranking officials in the government cabinet at the time and was asked to meet him. The next day at 9:00 AM WIB in his office, bringing a scheme on how the government could help restart Sritex’s operations for the sake of all employees affected by layoffs,” said Kurniawan while reading his plea in the trial at the Semarang Corruption Court, on Monday (27/4/2026).

According to Kurniawan, he immediately held a meeting with several staff to discuss and prepare the best scheme to restart Sritex. Kurniawan claimed that at the time, his focus was on how to get thousands of Sritex workers affected by layoffs back to work.

“The result of our meeting with the high-ranking official from the government cabinet at that time was very clear: the government was present and wanted to re-employ all employees who had been laid off. The working team endeavoured to lease Sritex’s assets from the curator team and also prepare capital,” said Kurniawan.

“We were given the mandate to run the entire operations under the operational cooperation scheme or KSO,” he added.