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House's ethics council to question officials over Freeport scandal

Digging deeper: An official has threatened gold and copper mining firm PT Freeport Indonesia with default for allegedly stalling the divestment of 10

Erika Anindita (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, November 27, 2015

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House's ethics council to question officials over Freeport scandal Digging deeper: An official has threatened gold and copper mining firm PT Freeport Indonesia with default for allegedly stalling the divestment of 10.64 percent of its shares to the government. (Kompas/Iwan Santosa) (Kompas/Iwan Santosa)

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span class="inline inline-center">Digging deeper: An official has threatened gold and copper mining firm PT Freeport Indonesia with default for allegedly stalling the divestment of 10.64 percent of its shares to the government. (Kompas/Iwan Santosa)

The House of Representatives'€™ ethics council (MKD) will question officials allegedly involved in the Freeport scandal to follow-up on the report submitted recently by Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said on the misconduct of House Speaker Setya Novanto.

Setya was accused of misusing the names of President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla in informal talks with the local subsidiary of US mining giant Freeport McMoRan. MKD investigators will examine Setya along with other prominent figures next Monday in a special hearing at the House.

'€œThe hearing will be open to the public unless there are things that cannot be disclosed openly,'€ said MKD deputy chief Junimart Girsang on Friday.

Earlier, Sudirman reported the House speaker to the MKD after the speaker allegedly claimed to have won approval from the President and the vice president to secure shares from Freeport in exchange for helping the company extend its contract in Papua.

'€œThe hearing will hopefully be held in three days,'€ Junimart said.

Setya has weathered numerous scandals and accusations throughout his rocky political career.  

Since 1999, Setya has avoided being named a suspect in at least four graft cases. He has also avoided being implicated in a number of corruption and money laundering cases.

Junimart said the MKD might also summon president Jokowi. He reminded those concerned that the council had summoned the National Police chief on a previous occasion.

The 2009 Minerals and Coal Law states that a mining contract renewal can only be negotiated two years before the contract expires, which means that discussions on Freeport'€™s contract extension can commence only in 2019, two years prior to the 2021 expiry date.

The Indonesian government is looking to increase its ownership in Freeport Indonesia to 20 percent from the current level of 9.36 percent. A further 10 percent must be divested to the government by the end of 2019. (dan)(+)

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