House Deputy Speaker Backs Anti-Corruption Unit in Coal Graft Probe

Deputy Chairman of House Commission III, Moh Rano Alfath, has given his full backing to the National Police’s Corruption Eradication Corps (Kortastipidkor) in investigating alleged corruption in the fulfilment of coal supplies, which is suspected of contributing to power outages in Sumatra. Rano stressed that the legal process must be carried out impartially and free from any form of intervention. “We fully support the steps taken by the National Police’s Kortastipidkor to thoroughly investigate the alleged corruption in the governance and fulfilment of coal supplies,” Rano said in a statement on Thursday (9/7/2026). Rano urged the police to pursue the case to its conclusion, noting that coal is a commodity affecting the lives of many people. “The coal sector is a strategic sector that concerns the livelihood of the wider public,” he stated. He also called for the legal process to be conducted professionally and expressed hope that no party would interfere in the case. “This legal process must be carried out professionally, objectively, and be sterile from any form of intervention,” Rano said. As is known, the police are currently undertaking a series of law enforcement actions related to several cases. One of these involved a search of a café in Cipete linked to multiple cases, including the alleged coal corruption that caused a blackout in the Sumatra region. The Head of Public Relations for the Metro Jaya Regional Police, Senior Commissioner Budhi Hermanto, stated that the search was conducted jointly with the National Police’s Kortas Tipikor. The case has drawn the attention of President Prabowo Subianto. “This relates to the alleged corruption behind the PLN coal blackout, ASABRI, and Krakatau Steel. This is a matter of attention for the President, and the alleged corruption cases are a focus for the Police to carry out disclosures and investigations,” Budhi said in Cipete, South Jakarta, on Wednesday (8/7). The Head of the National Police’s Kortas Tipikor, Inspector General Totok Suharyanto, mentioned that this case is being handled as a joint investigation with the Special Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Metro Jaya Regional Police. He said the cases relate to alleged corruption in coal procurement triggering a blackout, the ASABRI case, and the debt settlement case from PT CBS to PT KNI, a subsidiary of the state-owned enterprise Krakatau Steel. “Currently, the National Police’s Kortas is implementing a joint investigation scheme with the Special Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Metro Jaya Regional Police in handling corruption and money laundering cases in the legal handling of the PLN coal matter, the ASABRI case from 2020 to 2025, and the alleged corruption case in the debt settlement process of PT CBS to PT KNI from 2020-2025,” he said. The Director of Special Criminal Investigation for the Metro Jaya Regional Police, Senior Commissioner Victor Dean Mackbon, then provided an explanation regarding two objects of the case. He said the search was related to alleged corruption and money laundering in the legal handling process by individual state officials or state administrators in the PT ASABRI and Jiwasraya cases. “The first is the alleged criminal act of corruption and/or money laundering in the legal handling process by individual civil servants or state administrators in the case of PT ASABRI (Persero) and/or Asuransi Jiwasraya, which occurred within the jurisdiction of the Metro Jaya Regional Police during the period from 2020 to 2025,” he stated.