Ombudsman Chairman Hery Susanto Allegedly Received Rp 1.5 Billion from Nickel Company

The Attorney General’s Office has detained Hery Susanto, Chairman of the Indonesian Ombudsman, as a suspect in a bribery case concerning nickel mining governance from 2013 to 2025. Hery is alleged to have received a bribe of Rp 1.5 billion.

“This suspect received several sums of money from Mr LKM, who is the director of PT TSHI. The amount handed over by this one individual is approximately Rp 1.5 billion,” said Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, Director of Investigation at the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes of the Attorney General’s Office, during a press conference at the Attorney General’s Office in South Jakarta on Thursday (16/4/2026).

Hery has been charged under Article 12 letter a, 12 letter b, Article 5 of the Corruption Eradication Law, and Article 606 of the Criminal Code. Hery is being held for the initial 20 days at the Salemba Detention Centre Branch of the South Jakarta District Prosecutor’s Office.

Syarief stated that Hery is alleged to have handled issues regarding the calculation of non-tax state revenues (PNBP) from PT TSHI. He mentioned that PT TSHI then asked Hery to arrange for the Ombudsman to correct the PNBP calculation.

“Then, together with Mr HS, to arrange so that the letter or policy from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry is corrected by the Ombudsman with an order for PT TSHI to calculate its own payable obligations,” he said.

For information, Hery Susanto officially assumed the position of Ombudsman Chairman for the 2026-2031 period on Friday (10/4). He previously also served as an Ombudsman member for the 2021-2026 period.