AGO Strengthens Evidence To Investigate Private Involvement In Gold Import Cases

The Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) at the Attorney General's Office, Febrie Adriansyah. BETWEEN/HO-Puspenkum Attorney General's Office/aa. (Handout Puspenkum Attorney General's Office)

JAKARTA - Investigators from the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) at the Attorney General's Office are strengthening evidence to investigate the involvement of two private companies in the alleged corruption case related to the management of gold commodity business funds for the 2010-2020 period.

"I say, until now investigators are still strengthening evidence," said Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) Febrie Adriansyah as reported by ANTARA, Friday, November 3.

The two companies suspected of being involved in this case are PT Untung Bersama Sejahtera (UBS) and PT Indah Golden Siganture (IGS).

Febrie said the team of investigating prosecutors was still investigating the involvement of PT UBS and IGS in this case. Including exploring whether there are elements of state officials involved in it.

According to him, if elements of state officials are found to be involved, then the prosecutor can determine that this case is included in the category of corruption.

"We are still collecting criminal evidence. Later we will decide whether this is included in the Customs Law or Corruption Crimes. This must be clear, just wait for the decision," he said.

In this case, the AGO has examined the president directors of the two companies, namely HW as President Director of PT UBS and ESY as President Director of PT IGS.

Previously, Monday (14/8), the Head of the Sub-Directorate for Corruption Investigation and Money Laundering, Jampidsus Haryoko Ari Prabowo, said that the investigating prosecutor was investigating the involvement of PT UBS and PT IGS in manipulating the Harmonized System (HS) code to avoid paying taxes.

This case has been upgraded from investigation to investigation based on investigation warrant Number: Prin-14/F.2/Fd.2/05/2023 dated May 10, 2023.

Before increasing the status of this case, the investigative team first conducted a case title. From the case title carried out, the investigating prosecutor found two pieces of evidence that were sufficient to raise the status of this case to investigation.

The Head of the Legal Information Center of the Attorney General's Office, Ketut Sumedana, previously said that the investigative team had also conducted searches in several places. Among them, in Pulogadung, East Jakarta. Pondok Gede, Bekasi, West Java. Then, Cinere-Depok, West Java.

The search was also carried out at Pondok Aren, South Tangerang and Surabaya, East Java. The investigation team searched PT UBS located in Tambaksari and PT IGS in Genteng. However, until now, it is not clear, the results of the search with the legal status of the two companies were in the case of alleged corruption in importing gold.

Separately, the Indonesian Anti-Corruption Society (MAKI) asked the Jampidsus investigation team of the Attorney General's Office to be open about the involvement of the two precious metal trading companies in the alleged corruption case related to the management of gold commodity business funds for the 2010-2020 period.

MAKI Coordinator Boyamin Saiman also asked the Prosecutor's Office to be transparent in investigating the involvement of these two companies. This is because the investigating prosecutors searched the offices of the two companies at the beginning of the investigation into this case.

Not only that, the prosecutor himself has suspected that both IGS and UBS were involved in manipulating the HS code for exporting gold imports in order to avoid taxes.

"So, it is true that investigators must open up about the involvement of these two companies. Prosecutors must be transparent," said Boyamin.