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View all search resultsPrabowo says billions of dollars lost to illegal tin mining every year
The President ordered authorities to step up enforcement earlier this month in islands rich in the metal used in everything from electronics to making glass.
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Tin ore is loaded onto a truck at the PT Timah site in Sungailiat, Bangka Island. (JP/File)
I
ndonesia is losing more than US$2 billion every year to illegal tin mining and smuggling, President Prabowo Subianto said Monday.
The President ordered authorities to step up enforcement earlier this month in islands rich in the metal used in everything from electronics to making glass.
"There are still many illegal mines," he told reporters on Monday.
"The losses are quite significant, estimated at Rp 40 trillion ($2.4 billion) per year, and this has been going on for almost 20 years."
Prabowo said the military was involved in operations to stop illegal tin smuggling from the Bangka-Belitung Islands, a hub for the illicit activity.
"Over 20 years, that's [Rp] 800 trillion ($48.2 billion). What could we build with that? What kind of country could we build with such resources?" he asked.
Earlier this month, Prabowo visited Bangka-Belitung Islands Province to witness the seizure of assets from tin smelters implicated in a corruption case.
Six smelters were seized in that case and handed over to state-owned tin mining company PT Timah.
Prabowo was speaking on Monday at a press conference where the attorney general also said around $800 million had been returned to the government's coffers from palm oil companies, which the president said were part of huge "state losses".
Attorney General ST Burhanuddin said three palm oil companies had been prosecuted over "economic loss to the state" amounting to Rp 17 trillion ($1 billion), most of which was being returned.
