Newmont pays bail worth Rp 10 billion to Manado court

North Sulawesi-based gold mine operator PT Newmont Minahasa Raya has paid a bail worth about Rp 10 billion to the Manado district court as part of the settlement to remove the travel ban imposed on Richard Bruce Ness, the president director of the company, and the company’s other five top executives, Koran Tempo reported on Monday.

Newmont’s lawyer Kasmali confirmed on Saturday that the company had paid Rp 10 billion in bail to the Manado court as a guarantee after the court agreed to remove the travel ban imposed on the company’s executives, the main suspects in the trial against the company.

However, Kasmali said that his client had later asked for the reduction of the bail in line with the recent decision made by the court to reduce charges imposed against Newmont’s executives.

“The court has not responded our request,” he said.

The Manado Court has imposed a travel ban on Newmont’s six executives for their alleged involvement in the pollution caused by the company’s undersea waste disposal in the Buyat bay, near its mining area in Minahasa, North Sulawesi.

The court later freed four of the six executives from the charges but retained two of them including Ness as the main suspects. The decision has prompted Newmont to ask for a reduction of the bail requested by the court.

The court accused the company’s undersea mining waste disposal in the Buyat bay had contaminated the bay, causing a serious health problem to the people living near the bay.

According to the government’s test, the underground mining disposal had seriously contaminated the seawater around the bay. The arsenic level in the seawater had reached far higher than the maximum standard set by the government.

Newmont strongly opposed the charges. (*)