2 PT Inalum Officials Suspected of Corruption in Aluminum Sales Detained by North Sumatra Attorney General's Office

JAKARTA - The North Sumatra High Prosecutor's Office (Kejati Sumut) has detained two PT Indonesia Aluminium (Inalum) officials who are suspects in a case of alleged corruption in the sale of aluminum alloy from 2018 to 2024.

"Today, the two suspects have been detained for the first 20 days at the Medan Class IA State Detention House for the purposes of investigation," said Head of the Legal Information Section of the North Sumatra Prosecutor's Office, Indra Ahmadi Hasibuan in Medan, Wednesday, quoted by Antara.

Indra said the suspects who were detained, namely DS as Senior Executive Vice President (SEVP) for Business Development of PT Inalum in 2019 and JS as Head of the Sales and Marketing Department of PT Inalum in the same year.

The detention was carried out after the Pidsus Kejati North Sumatra investigation team conducted a health examination on the two suspects.

"The detention was carried out to prevent the suspect from repeating his actions, eliminating evidence, or fleeing," he said.

Before the arrest was made, investigators had named the two as suspects after finding at least two sufficient pieces of evidence.

Indra said that during the investigation process, it was revealed that there was a change in the payment scheme for the sale of aluminum alloy, which was originally using a cash and Domestic Document Credit (SKBDN) system, to a Document Against Acceptance (D/A) with a tenor of 180 days.

"As a result of the change in the scheme, PT Prima Alloy Steel Universal Tbk (PASU) did not make payment for aluminum alloy that had been sent by PT Inalum, thus causing potential financial losses to the state," he said.

Indra said the state's losses in the case were estimated at around US$8 million or the equivalent of Rp133.49 billion (exchange rate of Rp16,650 per US dollar), although the exact value of the losses was still being calculated.

"For their actions, the two suspects were charged with Article 2 paragraph (1) of Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the eradication of corruption as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001 in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code," he said.