The Anatomy of a Coal Project Corruption Case Costing the State Rp 38.9 Billion
The National Police’s Corruption Eradication Corps (Kortas Tipikor) is investigating a corruption case related to capital financing for a coal project involving three state-owned companies. The case caused state losses amounting to Rp 38.9 billion.
The case involves three companies: PT Perusahaan Pengelola Aset (PT PPA) as the lender, PT Bintang Abadi Sempurna (PT BAS) as the recipient of the loan, and PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara Batu Bara (PLNBB) as the project owner. The incident occurred during the 2019-2020 period.
‘Kortas Tipikor Polri will present the development of a criminal corruption case related to the provision of invoice financing facilities by PT Perusahaan Pengelola Aset (Persero) to PT Bintang Abadi Sempurna in a coal procurement project for PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara Batu Bara during the 2019 to 2020 period,’ said Head of Operations for Kortas Tipidkor Polri, Senior Commissioner Ahmad Yusuf Afandi, during a press conference at Bareskrim Polri on Monday (20/7/2026).
Ahmad explained that PT BAS was initially planned to receive a capital injection of Rp 50 billion from PT PPA through an invoice financing scheme. However, in practice, the disbursed budget became Rp 67.31 billion through eight disbursements.
The investigation found alleged irregularities in the capital provision process. There were four methods used by the perpetrators to manipulate the capital injection disbursement:
Due diligence and risk analysis were not carried out. The recommendation to conduct direct verification with PT PLN Batu Bara was not implemented, even though this was a mandatory procedure according to PT PPA’s internal standard operating procedures.
Invoice documents and supporting documents were not verified for authenticity but were still declared to have met the requirements, thus becoming the basis for fund disbursement.
Supervision of the cash collateral mechanism was ignored, so disbursement was still carried out even though the guarantee requirements were not met.
The final stage of disbursement was allegedly carried out by manipulating bank statements to make it appear that the guarantee account balance was still sufficient, when in reality it was not.
‘This case is not merely an administrative error but a series of actions allegedly carried out consciously, in a structured manner, intentionally, and interconnected, resulting in state funds being disbursed without a legal basis,’ said Ahmad.
According to a calculation conducted by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), the corruption committed by the perpetrators in this case caused state losses amounting to Rp 38.9 billion. ‘Based on the investigative audit report on state losses by the BPK RI, the actions of the suspects resulted in state losses of Rp 38.9 billion,’ he continued.
A total of three people have been named as suspects in this case. They are an Investment Manager of PT PPA with the initials IT, the Head of the Operational Division of PT Bintang Abadi Sempurna with the initials FSN, while another suspect with the initials SH, who is the Director of PT Bintang Abadi Sempurna, is currently a convict in another case and is serving a sentence at Salemba Prison.