Indonesia's Attorney General's Office Locates Nickel Case Figure AK Abroad
Indonesian investigators are working with immigration authorities to trace AK, a businessman linked to an alleged nickel mining corruption case in Southeast Sulawesi, after border-crossing records showed he was abroad. Authorities have not disclosed the country, and he remained a witness rather than a suspect as of November 6, 2026.
Search follows review of border records
Saiful Bahri Siregar of the Attorney General's Office, known as Kejagung, announced the finding at a Jakarta press conference on November 6. He said investigators had reviewed border-crossing data with other agencies and were coordinating with the Directorate General of Immigration to establish AK's whereabouts.
The office has identified the businessman only as AK. Suara.com identifies him as Arif Kurniawan, known by the nickname "Raja Nikel," or "Nickel King." Investigators were still examining witnesses and building the case; they had not designated him a suspect.
According to Saiful, testimony linked AK to suspected corruption involving nickel mining operations in Southeast Sulawesi between 2013 and 2025. Kompas.com reported that investigators had questioned 38 witnesses and obtained information suggesting he controlled five mining companies in the province.
Companies and permits under scrutiny
In a separate account of the press conference, Suara.com listed the companies Saiful identified as being under AK's control: PT BSJ, PT KAA, PT ANI, PT AMI, PT AMID and PT HJ. It reported that control was exercised through holding company PT DDA together with a person identified only as LEI.
The mining business permit areas reported for those companies were 1,030 hectares for PT BSJ, 1,036 hectares for PT KAA, 106 hectares for PT ANI, 1,000 hectares for PT AMI and 1,026 hectares for PT AMID.
Kejagung alleges that companies controlled by AK bribed state officials to manipulate approval of their Work Plan and Budget, known as RKAB, allowing mining to continue unlawfully. The investigation also concerns alleged irregularities in mining permits.
The office said PT BSJ's and PT KAA's mining business permits, known as IUP, expired in 2015 but received three extensions through a "suspend" scheme. The extensions came despite the Southeast Sulawesi Energy and Mineral Resources office having rejected the companies' exploration and feasibility-study results. Officials later revoked that rejection, a reversal investigators attribute to an alleged abuse of authority.
Jakarta searches and earlier forest allegations
A day before the press conference, on November 5, Kejagung investigators and a digital forensics team searched six locations in the Jakarta area in connection with the nickel case, Okezone News reported. The searches yielded about Rp 11.7 billion in cash: Rp 11.2 billion at one location and Rp 595 million at another. Investigators also seized mobile phones, laptops and CCTV equipment as electronic evidence.
AK had previously drawn scrutiny from Indonesia's Forest Area Control Task Force, known as Satgas PKH, which identified him as a figure suspected of controlling companies that illegally occupied state forest areas. Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin had ordered the task force to take over forest areas linked to Arif Kurniawan.