Noel Ebenezer Admits to Removing 'Sultan Kemnaker' from Position to Fulfil Commitment to Attorney General's Office

Jakarta - Former Deputy Minister of Manpower (Wamenaker) Immanuel Ebenezer, alias Noel, has admitted to transferring Irvian Bobby Mahendro from his position as Coordinator for Institutional and Personnel K3 at the Ministry of Manpower as a form of guidance and commitment to the Attorney General’s Office.

“(In) 2025, we transferred Brother Bobby because we had a commitment at that time with law enforcement officials (APH) from the Attorney General’s Office, the Prosecutor’s Office, to allow for guidance within our ranks,” Noel stated during the trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Thursday (23/4/2026).

The defendant and former Sub-Coordinator for Partnerships and Occupational Health Personnel at the Ministry of Manpower (Kemenaker), Anitasari Kusumawati, who was examined as a witness today, admitted to hearing about Bobby’s transfer.

In the trial, Noel only stated that Bobby was transferred because he needed guidance.

Outside the courtroom, Noel provided more details on the reasons for Bobby’s transfer.

He said that many internal officials could no longer tolerate Bobby’s behaviour.

“He (Bobby) always said, ‘I’m the Deputy Minister’s man, the Deputy Minister’s man’. The Inspectorate itself spoke up; they were fed up with this kid’s behaviour,” Noel said during a break in the trial testimony.

This was conveyed by the prosecutor in the first hearing of the indictment in the corruption case of extortion related to K3 certification processing at the Central Jakarta District Court on Monday (19/1/2026).

“That the Defendant Immanuel Ebenezer Gerungan, together with Fahrurozi, Hery Sutanto, Subhan, Gerry Aditya Herwanto Putra, Irvian Bobby Mahendro, Sekarsari Kartika Putri, Anitasari Kusumawati, Supriadi, Miki Mahfud, and Temurila, have forced various K3 Certification and Licence Applicants to give money totalling Rp6,522,360,000 or at least around that amount,” the prosecutor stated.

The prosecutor explained that this extortion had been ongoing since 2021.

In this case, former Wamenaker Noel and his associates are alleged to have used the method of inflating K3 certification issuance fees.

During meetings, Hery Sutanto asked his subordinates to continue the ‘tradition’ of ‘appreciation or non-technical/undertable fees’ within the Directorate General of Occupational Safety and Health Supervision K3.

The tradition in question involved collecting money related to the issuance and renewal of K3 certifications and licences at Kemnaker from certification and licence applicants through PJK3 at Rp300,000 to Rp500,000 per certificate.