Tabalong Prosecutor's Office Detains ESDM Employee as Suspect in Mining Permit Extortion

The Tabalong District Prosecutor’s Office has detained HPW, an employee of the Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Department of South Kalimantan Province, who is a suspect in an alleged mining permit extortion case at the Class II B Tanjung State Detention Centre in Tabalong Regency. ‘The detention will last for the next 20 days, starting today, 9 June until 28 June 2026,’ said Yuni Priyono, Head of Legal Information at the South Kalimantan High Prosecutor’s Office, in Banjarbaru on Tuesday. Following his arrest on Monday afternoon in Banjarbaru, suspect HPW was examined for 24 hours. The suspect was then immediately escorted by a team from the Tabalong Prosecutor’s Office, supported by the Intelligence and Special Crimes Division of the South Kalimantan High Prosecutor’s Office, to the Class II B Tanjung Detention Centre. ‘The suspect has also undergone a medical examination and has been declared healthy,’ explained Yuni. Investigators from the prosecutor’s office are currently conducting further investigations to trace other parties who may have been involved in the corrupt practice of extortion in the issuance of Mining Business Permits (IUP). Previously, a joint team from the Intelligence and Special Crimes Division of the South Kalimantan High Prosecutor’s Office along with the Tabalong Prosecutor’s Office arrested HPW, who served as an evaluator in the Mineral and Coal Mining Business Section of the South Kalimantan ESDM Department. HPW is suspected of demanding money from IUP applicants within the concession area of Tabalong Regency, with total extorted funds collected amounting to approximately Rp1.2 billion. For this extortion practice, suspect HPW is alleged to have violated Article 12 letter e of Law Number 20 of 2001 concerning Amendments to Law Number 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption.