TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Director General for Coal and Minerals, Thamrin Sihite, said he would investigate the 22 companies alleged of illegal mining. The existence of the companies were reported by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to the Corruption Eradication Commision (KPK).
Thamrin said that up until this moment, he has not received official report from BPK on its findings. "We will find it out and confirm it first, then we will examine our next moves", Thamrin said on Sunday.
He suspected that the 22 mining companies are those with the troubled mining business licenses (IUP). Currently, out of 10,000 issued licenses, only 3,778 of them are not troubled.
He believes that the BPK report was similar to the 22 licences reported to the police’s Criminal Investigation Body (Bareskrim). "We know that Bareskrim has received reports of 22 licenses, maybe they are the same reports."
When asked about the potential loss suffered by the country, he could not confirm it yet. The loss calculation cannot be conducted until the full report of the license is ready, however, it is estimated to be over Rp 100 billion. "The problem is, the scale of the businesses cannot be confirmed yet, the amount of the fees are also yet to be known," he clarified.
Until know, the government is verifying thousands of troubled IUP. The main obstacle to solve this issue is the lack of coordination among regional governments. So far, there are at least 27 problems caused by governmental policies. Some of the policies are regional expansions, the different landmass of every region, and the issuance of new licenses due to the change of regents which were performed without any coordination.
GUSTIDHA BUDIARTIE
