TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The House of Representatives' (DPR) Commission VI, which deals with trade, industry, investment, cooperatives and SMEs, as well as SOE affairs, held a working meeting with state-owned tin mining giant PT Timah (Persero) Tbk today, April 2. Some members of the Commission questioned the company's President Director Ahmad Dani Virsal about the alleged corruption in the processing of Mining Business Permits (IUP), which has reportedly caused state losses of up to Rp271 trillion.

Commission VI deputy chair Herman Haeron stated that the presentation made by PT Timah (IDX: TINS) "did not provide an actual representation of existing facts". He said that Ahmad, as CEO of PT Timah, had not been able to manage the company well.

"An environmental loss of over Rp271 trillion is a fantastic figure," Herman said during the meeting.

Herman, a politician from the Democratic Party, said he had made a solo visit to the areas near Timah's mining site. He claimed that when asked, residents in the area told him that the company did not manage its mining operations properly.

"It's no wonder that a lot of illegal players come in and then take advantage of loopholes outside the context of management capabilities," he commented.

Another member of Commission VI, Amin AK, also said that PT Timah's presentation was just a formality, and that the management's explanation did not provide the slightest information about the widely discussed tin trading case.

Amin mentioned PT Timah's losses over the past 3 years. "We need to know the exact position of this state enterprise. There are illegal miners all over the place. "We must prevent having an SOE that is being run by illegal miners," he said.

On the same occasion, Ahmad Dani Virsal said that his company had suffered a loss of Rp 450 billion caused by the decline in tin prices in the world market.

Ahmad said that PT Timah's production had also decreased, in addition to the company's operating expenses that remained high.

"The peak load was unchanged, the peak cost was also the same, but our income dropped massively because of the drop in production. Things were made worse by the decline in tin sales prices, resulting in a revenue that fell massively,” he said.

SAVERO ARISTIA WIENANTO

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