Jakarta –
Since 2020, Indonesia has carried out a ban nickel export abroad. However, in 2023, suddenly the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) discovered that there was an illegal export of nickel ore to China from Indonesia.
The findings were revealed by the Head of the KPK Region V Coordination and Supervision Task Force, Dian Patria. In fact, this illegal export has occurred since 2020, alias the first year nickel exports were officially banned.
“(Alleged illegal export of nickel ore) from January 2020 to June 2022. The source is the Chinese Customs website,” said Dian Patria, Friday (6/23/2023).
Referring to the data sent by the KPK, there is a comparison of the difference in export values released by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) and Chinese Customs data. The difference in export value reached IDR 14.5 trillion.
Still from these data, China imported 5.3 tons of nickel ore from Indonesia from 2020 to June 2022. In detail, in 2020, China received imports of 3,393,251,356 kilograms or 3.39 tons of nickel ore.
In 2021, China again imported 839,161,249 kilograms or 0.8 tons, and 1,085,675,336 kilograms or 1.08 tons in 2022.
Executive Director of the Center of Energy and Resources Indonesia (CERI) Yusri Usman revealed several potential modes of this illegal export could occur. According to him, raw nickel smuggling can occur at smelters. He suspects that smelter owners may also have a big hand in this illegal practice.
“I suspect the export process can be easy and safe through the smelter terminal, the smelter owner might be involved,” said Yusri to detikcom, Sunday (2/7/2023).
It didn’t stop there, Yusri also said that the possibility of this smuggling also involved several elements from Customs and Excise to the port authority. These elements were bribed so that the delivery of goods could be smooth.
“The huge profit and the sharing with unscrupulous officials allowed the work to go on smoothly for two years,” said Yusri.
Regarding the smuggling locations, Yusri stated that they were definitely in Sulawesi and North Maluku. This is because these two areas are the largest nickel producers in Indonesia.
“From Indonesia, I don’t want to mention IWIP (Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park), only if the location is of course from Sulawesi and North Maluku because these are the only two areas that are the biggest nickel producers,” said Yusri.
(p/das)
2023-07-02 04:47:00
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