The 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, authorities said.
Prosecutors arrested Hery Susanto yesterday, said 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.
Susanto allegedly received 1.5 billion rupiah (RM345,781) from a nickel company during his period as a board member with Indonesia’s ombudsman office from 2021 to 2026.
Syarief told reporters that the nickel company, identified only by the initials TSHI, encountered problems related to the calculation of its tax bill.
Hery and the company made arrangements which enabled the ombudsman to change the amount of tax the Forestry Ministry was recommending it should pay, Syarief said.
“It ordered the company to pay based on its own calculations,” he added.
He said Hery had allegedly violated bribery rules, which could lead to a maximum sentence of three years in jail. — Reuters
