Rare Earth Export Scandal Exposed: Customs Official and Company Boss Named Suspects

The Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung) has named three suspects in a corruption case concerning the governance of non-metallic mineral mining, specifically rare earth elements, involving PT PMM during the 2018–2019 period. One of the suspects is a customs official from Pangkalpinang. The three suspects are IS, a representative of PT PMM; JK, the Head of the Type C Customs and Excise Service and Supervision Office in Pangkalpinang; and GP, the Head of the Pangkalpinang Service Unit of PT S. Director of Investigation at the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, stated that the suspects were named after investigators found sufficient evidence of irregularities in the mineral export process. Investigators revealed that the case began when IS allegedly asked GP not to conduct a thorough examination of ilmenite samples. This was allegedly done so that the prohibited rare earth mineral content would not be detected in the laboratory test results. According to Syarief, the laboratory test report subsequently only listed ilmenite as a commodity meeting export requirements, omitting the rare earth mineral content. He explained that GP allegedly knew rare earth minerals had high economic value, yet the request was still carried out without a comprehensive inspection. Furthermore, investigators suspect that JK, as the Head of Customs in Pangkalpinang, was aware that PT PMM’s export goods contained rare earth minerals based on laboratory analysis results from PLBC Jakarta and the central P2B.