Story of 'Sultan Kemnaker' Extorted for Billions of Rupiah by Noel Ebenezer

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Coordinator for Institutional and Personnel Affairs in Occupational Safety and Health at the Ministry of Manpower for 2022-2025, Irvian Bobby Mahendro, recounted being asked for billions of rupiah by former Deputy Minister of Manpower Immanuel Ebenezer alias Noel.

These demands for money were made by Noel several times from when he became an official until he was caught in a Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) hand arrest operation (OTT).

Around two months after taking office, in December 2024, Noel requested Rp 1 billion from Bobby.

“There was a request for money for the needs of the defendant Immanuel Ebenezer Gerungan of Rp 500 million on two occasions, totalling Rp 1 billion,” stated the Public Prosecutor (JPU) while reading the Examination Minutes Report (BAP) during the trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court, on Monday (20/4/2026).

The request was conveyed by a person named David, one of Noel’s subordinates.

The handover of the money was also done through David, not directly to Noel.

“At that time, the person in question, David, told me that it was indeed for the operational needs of the Deputy Minister,” said Bobby.

To fulfil Noel’s request, Bobby contacted two of his sub-coordinators, Supriyadi and Sekarsari.

They took the money from a pool of non-technical funds that were collected from private parties, namely Occupational Safety and Health Service Companies (PJK3).

The prosecutor briefly questioned Bobby about the phenomenon of non-technical funds.

“At that time, did you tell the defendant Immanuel about these non-technical funds? Because here it directly talks about needs, directly requesting Rp 1 billion in two stages from you,” pressed the prosecutor.

Bobby admitted that he did not tell Noel about the withdrawal of non-technical funds.