ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – The escape of Sriwijaya Air boss, Hendry Lie, who is a suspect in tin corruption in Indonesia, is over. After 7 months hiding in Singapore, Hendry Lie was finally arrested by investigators from the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic of Indonesia.
Investigators at the Attorney General’s Office have apparently discovered Hendry Lie’s arrival in Indonesia secretly.
The suspect in the tin corruption case, Hendry Lie, apparently intended to extend his passport which expired on November 27 2024. However, he was immediately arrested by Attorney General investigators when he got off the plane at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, on Monday, November 18 2024 evening.
The Sriwijaya Air boss did not move and surrendered when officers were taken to the Salemba Detention Center, Central Jakarta.
It is known that Hendry Lie is a suspect in corruption in the trading system of tin commodities in the PT Timah Tbk Mining Business License (IUP) area for 2015-2022. As a result of the actions of Hendry Lie and 23 other suspects, the Indonesian state suffered losses of more than IDR 300 trillion.
So, what is Hendry Lie’s role in this corruption case? “The role of the suspect Hendry Lie is as the beneficial owner of PT Tinindo Inter Nusa or PT TIN,” said Director of Investigations at the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes, Abdul Qohar, to journalists, Tuesday, November 19 2024, early in the morning.
According to Qohar, Hendry Lie plays an active role in collaborating on the rental of tin smelting equipment.
“Consciously and deliberately taking an active role in collaborating on the rental of tin smelting processing equipment between PT Timah Tbk and PT TIN, where the tin ore recipients are CV BPR and CV SFS which were deliberately formed as companies to receive tin ore sourced from illegal tin mining activities,” he explained.
Qohar said Hendry Lie was charged as a suspect along with his younger brother Fandi Lie. According to him, the brothers worked together to process tin from illegal mining.
“Hendry Lie and his younger brother collaborated there, so that when investigators got enough evidence, we named him a suspect,” he said.
In this case, the Attorney General’s Office has named a total of 23 people as suspects, starting from the Main Director of PT Timah Tbk 2016-2021, Mochtar Riza Pahlevi Tabrani to Harvey Moeis as an extension of PT Refined Bangka Tin.
The Attorney General’s Office said that based on calculations by the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP), the value of state financial losses in this case reached IDR 300.003 trillion.
The details are the overpayment of the smelter rental price by PT Timah amounting to IDR 2.85 trillion, payment of illegal tin ore by PT Timah to partners amounting to IDR 26.649 trillion and the value of ecological damage amounting to IDR 271.6 trillion.
Sriwijaya Air Boss
Hendry Lie is known to be the boss of the airline PT Sriwijaya Air. Quoted from sriwijayaair.co.id, Hendry Lie founded the company with his brothers Chandra Lie and Johannes Bunjamin, as well as Andy Halim.
Sriwijaya Air started its business with one Boeing 737-200. Some of the experts who helped pioneer the establishment of Sriwijaya Air were Supardi, Capt. Kusnadi, Capt. Adil W, Capt. Harwick L, Gabriella, and Suwarsono.
In 2003, on Heroes’ Day, November 10, Sriwijaya Air started its first flights from Jakarta to Pangkalpinang, Jakarta to Palembang, Jakarta to Jambi, and Jakarta to Pontianak.
Currently Sriwijaya Air Group has 48 Boeing aircraft on a total of 53 routes, including the Medan-Penang regional route and other international routes.
In order to develop routes and market share, Sriwijaya Air also added Boeing 737-800 Next Generation (NG) and Boeing 737-900 Extended Range (ER).
Hendry Lie himself was included in the list of 150 richest people according to Globe Asia Magazine’s June 2016 edition. He is recorded as having assets estimated at US$325 billion.
This figure is an increase compared to 2015. At that time, Hendry Lie’s assets were US$300 billion.
Own assets from land to villas
Director of Investigations at the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes at the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic of Indonesia, Abdul Qohar, explained that his party had traced Hendry Lie’s assets.
He confirmed that the suspect owned many plots of land and buildings. In fact, Hendry Lie has a villa on the Island of the Gods, Bali.
“We have searched all the assets of the suspects. We have carried out searches and confiscations, including Hendry Lie’s assets. (He owns) a lot of land, buildings, including in Bali (villas). We have confiscated them,” explained Abdul Qohar. Tuesday, November 19, 2024.
How was Hendry Lie arrested?
Abdul Qohar explained the chronology of Hendry Lie’s arrest on Monday, November 18 2024 evening.
Hendry Lie was arrested when he secretly returned to Indonesia. The founder of the Sriwijaya Air airline was previously in Singapore for treatment. Hendry Lie left Indonesia after undergoing the first examination as a witness in the tin corruption case.
“The suspect went to Singapore after the first examination. Then the person concerned did not return again on the grounds that he was undergoing treatment in Singapore,” he said.
However, Hendry Lie then returned to Indonesia because his passport would expire on November 27 2024. The reason is, Hendry Lie’s passport could not be extended because it was banned.
“Because investigators have sent a letter to the Singapore Ambassador to withdraw the passport in question,” said Abdul Qohar.
Abdul Qohar admitted that his party had carried out monitoring of Hendry Lie by collaborating with a number of parties, such as investigators, the intelligence team and representatives of the prosecutor’s office in Singapore.
As a result, Hendry Lie was detected returning home secretly on Monday, November 18 2024 evening.
“He returned home secretly, and we made an arrest at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport when he arrived from Singapore at terminal 2 F. The arrest of Hendry Lie was carried out on November 18 2024, precisely at 22.30 WIB,” explained Abdul Qohar .
Hendry Lie previously underwent examination as a witness on February 29 2024. After being examined, the person concerned then flew to Singapore on March 25 2024.
The Attorney General’s Office then sent summons to Hendry Lie several times, but he never appeared to answer the summons.
Hendry Lie was then banned on March 28 2024 for 6 months. His escape ended when he was forcibly arrested on Monday, November 18 2024 evening. (AT Network)
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