Indonesia arrests chief ombudsman on bribery charges after only six days in office
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Hery Susanto being sworn in as Chief Ombudsman of Indonesia on April 10.
PHOTO: OIC OMBUDSMAN ASSOCIATION
JAKARTA – Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office arrested the country’s chief ombudsman just six days after his appointment for allegedly taking a bribe from a local nickel company, the authorities said on April 16.
Prosecutors arrested Mr Hery Susanto on April 16, said Mr Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, director of investigations at the Attorney-General’s Office. He was inaugurated as Indonesia’s chief ombudsman by President Prabowo Subianto on April 10.
Mr Susanto allegedly received 1.5 billion rupiah (S$111,160) from a nickel company during his period as a board member with Indonesia’s ombudsman office from 2021 to 2026.
Mr Nahdi told reporters that the nickel company, identified only by the initials TSHI, encountered problems related to the calculation of its fine.
Mr Susanto and the company made arrangements which enabled the ombudsman to change the amount of fine the Forestry Ministry was recommending it should pay, Mr Nahdi said.
“It ordered the company to pay based on its own calculations,” he added.
He said Mr Susanto had allegedly violated bribery rules in Indonesia’s criminal code, which could lead to a maximum sentence of three years in jail. REUTERS
