JAKARTA: Indonesia named five tin firms as "corporate suspects" in an illegal mining case linked to state mining firm PT Timah, the office of the Attorney General said on Thursday (Jan 2).
Tin companies PT Refined Bangka Tin (RBT), PT Stanindo Inti Perkasa, PT Tinindo Inter Nusa, PT Sariwiguna Binasentosa and CV Venus Inti Perkasa have been named as of Dec 31, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) said in a statement.
The companies allegedly colluded with former executives at PT Timah between 2018 and 2019 to accommodate illegal tin mining activities at Timah's concession and created fake smelting transactions, according to the statement.
Any formal charges would be filed at a later date, under the Indonesian legal system.
Calls to the offices of RBT were not answered. Tinindo did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. The three other companies, as well as legal representatives of all of the companies, could not be reached immediately.
In the same case, an Indonesian court in December sentenced a former chief executive of RBT and a former chief executive of Timah each to eight years in prison, local media reported, without giving precise details.
The AGO said state losses from the suspected illegal mining include around 29 trillion rupiah (US$1.79 billion) for allegedly fictitious ore sales and smelting services.
The suspected illegal mining also caused 271 trillion rupiah ($16.7 billion) in environmental damage, it said.
