PT Timah, Antam, PTBA deny bribery charge

Publicly listed mining companies PT Aneka Tambang (Antam), PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam (PT BA) and PT Timah have strongly denied the allegation that the local mining companies had paid bribe worth up to Rp 7 billion to members of the House of Representatives in order to pass the proposed coal mining law now being deliberated by the House members.

Antam’s president director Dedy Aditya Sumanegara told reporters on Thursday that the bribery allegation was totally baseless. “The allegation severely hurt the image of our companies which, as publicly listed companies, have strictly adopted the corporate governance concept,” said Dedy who spoke on behalf of the three major mining companies.

Dedy said that the three companies would soon send a letter to the Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) to clarify the baseless allegation. “We also send a letter to Suara Pembaharuan daily to protest the report,” he added.

In one of its article, Suara Pembaharuan alleged that the three mining companies, which were also involved in coal production, had paid bribe of up to Rp 7 billion to speed up the process of the approval of the proposed coal mining law. (dino)