The Petitioners and legal counsels at the preliminary hearing for the material judicial review of the Anti-Corruption Law, Thursday (4/24/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — PT Timah and other corporations have filed a material judicial review petition of Article 18 paragraph (1) letter b of Law No. 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of the Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended by Law No. 20 of 2001 (Anti-Corruption Law). They believe the article will hinder the state’s effort of eradication of corruption acts, which will then violate constitutional rights and lead to unfairness for the Petitioners.

Article 18 paragraph (1) letter b of the Anti-Corruption Law reads, “(1) In addition to being liable to additional penalties as referred to in the Criminal Code, further additional penalties shall be as follows: b. The payment of compensation, the amount of which shall not exceed the amount of assets obtained through such criminal acts of corruption.”

“The implementation of Article 18 paragraph (1) letter b of the Anti-Corruption Law is inappropriate and does not have deterrent effect,” said the Petitioners’ legal counsel Haryono at the preliminary hearing for case No. 29/PUU-XXIII/2025 on Thursday, April 24, 2025.

Petitioners I-V are PT Timah Tbk represented by advisor Firdaus Dewilmar and legal division head I Wayan Riana; civil servant Akhmad Elvian; lecturer Faisal; the Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers Association (APSyFI) represented by secretary A. Farhan Aqil Syauqi Pradanta; and the Indonesian Working Convection Entrepreneurs Association represented by chairman Nandi Herdiaman.

The Petitioners explained that corruption crimes in the tin commodity trading system in the PT Timah Tbk mining business license (IUP) areas from 2015 to 2022 have caused losses beyond the amount of assets obtained from the corruption acts, as they have also caused environmental damage in those areas as ruled by the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court. Meanwhile, the Mineral and Coal Mining Law and the Environmental Protection Law stipulate that mining business license (IUP) or special mining business license (IUPK) holders must provide and place reclamation guarantee funds and/or post-mining guarantee funds.

In its decision, the Central Jakarta District Court asserted that assets obtained from corruption crimes are much smaller or incomparable to the consequences of corruption in the form of environmental damage. Of the Rp300 trillion state financial losses, as much as Rp271 trillion is for environmental damage due to illegal tin mining.

Corruption perpetrators are only punished to replace the amount they gained from corruption, whereas there are consequences arising from the corruption crimes, such as the need for environmental recovery costs for damaged mining lands that are not reclaimed.

However, the Petitioners asserted, the question arise as to who would pay the remaining shortfall in costs for environmental restoration. They stressed that only punishing corruption perpetrators in the amount of assets obtained from corruption has actually led to constitutional and specific losses in the form of environmental damage in the IUP areas belonging to Petitioner I, to the amount of Rp271 trillion. At least, according to rational reasoning, the state could potentially or even inevitably give the IUP holder the responsibility to restore the damaged environment.

In the petitum, the Petitioners asked the Court to grant their entire petition and declare Article 18 paragraph (1) letter b of the Anti-Corruption Law unconstitutional if not interpreted as: “The payment of compensation, the amount of which shall equal the amount of state losses and/or losses to the state finances arising from such criminal acts of corruption.”

The hearing was presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Asrul Sani. The chief justice asserted that the Petitioners must explain the contradiction between the norm and the Constitution.

“Please provide us with arguments so that [the penalty for corruption perpetrators] is not limited to the amount of losses that they gain,” he said.

Before adjourning the session, he announced that the Petitioners would have 14 days to revise the petition and resubmit it by Wednesday, May 7, 2025.

Read the revised petition No. 29/PUU-XXIII/2025 here.

Author         : Mimi Kartika
Editor          : Nur R.
PR               : Andhini S.F.
Translator     : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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