July 8, 2026
JAKARTA – The National Police have launched an investigation into alleged corruption involving local coal miners that may have led to rolling blackouts in several regions across Indonesia, causing an estimated Rp 5 trillion (US$277.5 million) in economic losses.
In a press conference on Monday, the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) and the Corruption Eradication Corps (Kortas Tipidkor) escalated the case status from a preliminary inquiry to a formal criminal investigation, targeting alleged corruption and money laundering in coal procurement for coal-fired power plants from 2018 to 2026.
“We will fully support the investigation now that the case has been upgraded to a formal investigation. We will also provide our full support in conducting inspections, particularly related to the technical aspects of mining,” said Bareskrim head Comr. Gen. Syahardiantono, as quoted in a statement published on Tuesday.
Kortas Tipidkor Insp. Gen. Totok Suharyanto revealed that investigators suspected irregularities in coal procurement involving two companies identified only by their initials, UBP and BRA.
Kortas Tipidkor enforcement director Brig. Gen. Roberthus Yohanes De Deo Tresna Eka Trimana said the two firms might have manipulated the quantity and quality of coal supplies, as well as engaged in other misconduct that resulted in contract payments that did not match actual supply conditions.
Authorities suspect these irregularities led to disruptions in the coal supply to the national power grid and triggered blackouts in several regions, including Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java and the Greater Jakarta area.
The blackouts are estimated to have caused around Rp 5 trillion in economic losses, though the figure is still preliminary, with authorities planning to coordinate further with the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to conduct an investigative audit and calculate the real losses.
Police investigators have so far questioned 16 witnesses to clarify the allegations. They have not yet named any suspects in the case.
In May, a massive blackout affected more than 13 million state-owned electricity firm PLN customers in North Sumatra, Aceh, West Sumatra, Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra.
The outage, which lasted up to a week in some areas, was among the worst power disruptions experienced on the island in recent years. PLN said a lightning strike on a key transmission line in Merangin, Jambi triggered the blackout.
Less than two weeks later, on June 4, another major outage struck parts of North Sumatra after heavy rain and strong winds damaged 12 transmission towers in the province.
The repeated outages inflicted significant economic losses on residents and businesses and raised serious safety concerns. At least six people died from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning during the outages.
Power outages also disrupted household and commercial activities in parts of West Java, East Java, Yogyakarta and other areas connected to the Java-Madura-Bali grid in late June.
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said in June that PLN, which sources electricity from its own power plants as well as those operated by private companies, faced a shortage of 20 million tonnes of coal to meet its annual operational needs.
He pointed out the gap between contracted supply and actual demand, noting that the utility firm actually requires 154 million tonnes of coal annually to fuel its steam-driven power plants, but has secured contracts for only 134 million tonnes.
The government initially denied that a coal shortage had caused the rolling blackouts on Java, attributing them instead to technical disruptions at two major power plants on the island.
However, experts noted that the domestic market obligation (DMO) policy, which requires coal miners to sell 25 percent of their production to PLN at a maximum price of $70 per tonne, far below the market price of around $120, has hampered PLN’s ability to secure coal supplies.
Charges against the coal miners are not the first major allegations leveled by President Prabowo Subianto’s administration against private companies following a disaster.
After deadly floods and landslides struck Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra following Cyclone Senyar on Nov. 25 last year, claiming more than 1,000 lives, the government revoked the mining and forestry permits of several companies whose operations were deemed to have contributed to the disaster.
The government even threatened to take over some of the permits and transfer them to state-owned enterprises, including the Martabe mine in North Sumatra, which is operated by Agincourt Resources, a unit of local conglomerate Astra International. However, it later reversed course after the Environment Ministry approved Martabe mine’s resumption of operations, amid concerns over potential international arbitration and the erosion of investor confidence.