Police in Tin Corruption

ALLEGATIONS of hidden backers in the alleged corruption involving the company Timah have come out into the open. The mention of the name of Brig. Gen. Mukti Juharsa at the tin corruption trial is a strong indication that law enforcement officers have been involved in wrongdoing. The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) should immediately look into the role of the former director of the Bangka Belitung Special Criminal Investigation Department.

Mukti Juharsa’s name was mentioned during the trial of Harvey Moeis, a suspect representing Refined Bangka Tin, a company affiliated with tycoon Robert Bonosusatya. During the trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court on August 22, a witness revealed that Mukti was the administrator of the “New Smelter” WhatsApp group whose members are businesspeople in the tin industry in Bangka Belitung. In this group, Mukti announced a tin ore levy for Timah of five percent of the export volume.

Four days later, another witness stated that Mukti was the link between tin tycoons operating in Bangka Belitung and Harvey. Together with the late Bangka Belitung Police Chief, Brig. Gen. Syaiful Zachri, Mukti arranged gatherings of tin businesspeople in various hotels and threatened those who did not want to pay for the ‘contribution for thugs.’

Mukti was clearly an important part of the tin pilfering that cost the state hundreds of trillions of rupiah. Instead of doing his job as a law enforcer, he became part of a corrupt endeavor. It is highly likely that Mukti, now Director of Narcotics Crimes at the National Police Criminal Investigation Department, will protect other tycoons enjoying the proceeds from this illegal activity. Collusion between businesspeople and law enforcers often occurs in relation to the plundering of natural resources.

The AGO should immediately question Mukti Juharsa. The problem is that the AGO appears reluctant to investigate this case transparently. In the charge sheet, there was not a single mention of the name or role of Mukti. The reason given by the prosecutor for the absence of Mukti’s name was rather strange. He said Mukti’s name only emerged in the trial. The connections between the people involved in tin corruption should have been revealed before the case went to court.

Even after the testimony from witnesses, the AGO decided it was too early to question Mukti. This soft and slow stance from the AGO is bound to result in the corruption case not being thoroughly investigated. From his current position, Mukti will be able to go around concealing evidence of his involvement or seek protection from more powerful officials.

Since the outset, the AGO has given the impression of being averse to revealing the role of highly influential officials and tycoons. So far, for example, the AGO has not named businessman Robert Bonosusatya a suspect despite his role being plain for all to see. There are indications that Robert, who has a strong network within the police, received funds from the tin trading corruption in Bangka Belitung.

The reluctance of the AGO was also noticed from the way it did nothing about the stalking of Deputy Prosecutor for Special Crimes Febrie Adriansyah. In May this year, Febrie, who was handling the tin corruption case, was tailed by personnel from the Police Anti-Terror Special Detachment 88. There has been no clear resolution of this case. Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin decided to resolve this case in private with National Police Chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo.

If he really wants to get to the bottom of the tin corruption case, the AGO must have the courage to uncover the involvement of Mukti Juharsa and the collusion between law enforcement officers or other officials with mining tycoons. The only way to do this is to put them on trial.