Nickel Corruption Case Entangles Hery Susanto; Ombudsman Ethics Council to Hear Him Next Week

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The suspended chair of the Ombudsman, Hery Susanto, will be called to give a statement by the Ombudsman RI’s Ethics Council on Monday, 25 May 2026, even as he remains embroiled in a case of alleged corruption related to the governance of nickel mining in Southeast Sulawesi.

However, there is as yet no certainty that he will attend in person. Jimly said the Ethics Council remains open to the possibility that Hery is represented by his legal counsel if he does not attend in person.

‘So we will mark it with a line. HS / legal counsel. Well, then the legal counsel can come. It could be that his counsel might not come either. He might be reluctant, for example,’ Jimly said at the Ombudsman Building on Friday, 22 May 2026.

Nevertheless, Jimly stressed that the Ethics Council is not requesting special treatment from the Attorney General’s Office. ‘Yes, we are not asking for that. That’s not our business; that’s HS’s business. HS must seek permission. Not necessarily granted by the prosecutors,’ he said.

‘He has already been given the right to defend himself. The right to be heard. Oh, if he does not come, then in Dutch it’s called rechtsverwerking. He relinquishes his right to be heard,’ he said.

After that, he said, the Ethics Council will immediately make a decision. ‘So after that the Ethics Council will immediately make a decision,’ he added. ‘Yes (caught off guard), it’s perhaps a bit too formal in its way of working, following the procedure, the formality,’ he said.

He even said that information about Hery Susanto’s legal matters should have been traceable earlier through a search engine.