The Trajectory of RI Ombudsman Chairman Hery Santoso: From NGO Activist to Ensnared in Nickel Corruption

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Chairman of the Indonesian Ombudsman, Hery Susanto, has come under scrutiny after the Attorney General’s Office designated him as a suspect in a nickel mining business governance case in Southeast Sulawesi on Thursday (16/4/2026). He is alleged to have received Rp 1.5 billion from the case while still serving as Deputy Head of the Ombudsman in 2025. The Director of Investigation at the Attorney General’s Office, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, explained that the case originated when a company named PT TSHI faced issues with PNBP calculations by the Ministry of Forestry. PT TSHI sought a solution and subsequently collaborated with Hery Susanto to make arrangements. To carry out this, the suspect Hery received a sum of money from the Director of PT TSHI, initialled LKM. “Approximately what has been handed over from this one person is around one and a half billion rupiah or Rp 1.5 billion,” said Syarief. Hery Susanto built his career through the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Komunal, based in Cirebon City, West Java. His voice as an NGO activist was recorded in news reports around February 2012. At that time, Hery stated that the NGO he led was ready to oversee the transformation of Cirebon City, which was deemed poor.