Ombudsman Apologises After Its Chairman Named Suspect in Nickel Mining Governance Corruption Case
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Republic of Indonesia Ombudsman has apologised after its General Chairman, Hery Susanto, was named a suspect in an alleged corruption case concerning the governance of nickel mining businesses in Southeast Sulawesi (Sultra).
The statement was delivered by the eight members of the Republic of Indonesia Ombudsman for the 2026-2031 period in a written press release received by Kompas.com on Thursday (16/4/2026).
“The Leadership of the Republic of Indonesia Ombudsman for the 2026-2031 Period conveys an apology for the public discomfort and regrets that this incident occurred, while strongly committing to continue maintaining public trust in the task of supervising public services with full integrity,” wrote the Republic of Indonesia Ombudsman on Thursday.
In the statement, the Leadership of the Republic of Indonesia Ombudsman stated that it respects the ongoing legal process and hands over the handling of this case to the competent law enforcement authorities, and will be cooperative.
Therefore, the Leadership of the Ombudsman emphasises its commitment to the principles of transparency, accountability, and respect for the presumption of innocence.
“Every party has the right to a fair legal process in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations,” stated the Ombudsman’s written press release.
The Ombudsman stated that to ensure the continuity of duties and services to the public, the leaders ensure the necessary internal steps in accordance with institutional mechanisms.
The eight Ombudsman leaders are as follows: [Note: The original article lists them but the details are incomplete in the provided text.]
The Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung) of the Republic of Indonesia arrested and named the Chairman of the Republic of Indonesia Ombudsman, Hery Susanto, as a suspect in a corruption criminal case regarding the governance of nickel mining businesses in Southeast Sulawesi (Sultra).
Head of the Legal Information Centre of Kejagung, Anang Supriatna, said that the naming of the suspect was based on evidence found by investigators.
“The investigation team has named suspect HS,” said Anang during a press conference at Kejagung, Jakarta, on Thursday (16/4/2026).
Director of Investigation of the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes, Syarief Sulaeman, explained that this case originated from a company with the initials PT TSHI which experienced problems in calculating non-tax state revenues (PNBP) by the Ministry of Forestry.
The method involved arranging for a policy made by the Ministry of Forestry to be corrected by the Ombudsman with an order for PT TSHI to calculate its own burden that must be paid.
“To carry out this, the suspect received a sum of money from Mr LKM, who is the director of PT TSHI, approximately Rp 1.5 billion that has been handed over from this one person,” said Syarief.
For his actions, Hery is suspected of violating Article 12 letter a, Article 12 letter b, Article 5, and Article 606 of the Criminal Code.