Tessa Mahardhika's Profile, Former Spokesperson Who is Now KPK Investigation Director

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) officially appointed Tessa Mahardhika Sugiarto as the Director of Investigation on Friday, February 20. He is a state civil servant (ASN) in the KPK environment with the last rank of Pembina Utama Muda/IV/c.

Tessa was introduced as the KPK Spokesperson to replace Ali Fikri in June 2024. In May 2025, he was appointed as Acting Director of Investigation before finally being inaugurated as a definitive official after passing the open selection process.

Tessa studied at the Police Academy (Akpol), Semarang, Central Java, then graduated in 2001. He then continued his formal education at the Strata 1 (S1) level at STIK-PTIK and graduated in 2008.

His education continued to the Strata 2 (S2) level of Master of Communication Science at Interstudi which he completed in 2023.

In addition to formal education, Tessa has attended various training and competence development. These include Expert Auditor from BPKP, Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) to asset recovery training with Australia Awards Indonesia and Forfeiture Course with the US Department of Justice (DoJ).

Tessa first started her career as a member of the National Police in 2002. He held a number of positions in the South Sulawesi Regional Police, such as Kusambi Police Chief to Ka Induk-3 Sat PJR Ditlantas South Sulawesi Regional Police.

Meanwhile, at the KPK, Tessa joined as an investigator in 2008. A few years later, he decided to retire early from the National Police with the last rank of Commissioner of Police (Kompol).

He then became the Head of the Task Force (Kasatgas) which handled 20 corruption cases. Next, Tessa served as Acting Director of Investigation in 2021.

In addition, Tessa has carried out assignments in various countries such as Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, the Maldives, and France.

In France, he represented Indonesia in the Global Law Enforcement Network (GLEN)-OECD meeting and became the Co-chair Meeting of the GLEN OECD.

As previously reported, the KPK appointed five directors and one bureau chief (kabiro) on Friday, February 20. The officials who were inaugurated had passed the open selection with various stages and were declared to have passed since December 23, 2025.

The following are the details of the directors and bureau chiefs who were inaugurated:

1. Kunto Ariawan - Director of Community Development and Participation of the KPK; 2. Tessa Mahardhika Sugiarto - Director of Investigation; 3. Maruli Tua - Director of Regional Coordination and Supervision V; 4. Iskandar Marwanto - Head of the Legal Bureau; 5. Taryanto - Director of Corruption Detection and Analysis; and 6. Budhi Sarumpaet - Director of Prosecution