Alleged Collusion Between JAK TV News Director and Advocate to Become Suspect in Attorney General's Office

Three individuals have been designated by the Attorney General's Office as suspects in the case of obstruction of investigation and prosecution in a corruption case. One of them is the Director of News at JAK TV, Tian Bahtiar.

Together with Marcella Santoso and Junaedi Saibih as advocates, they are suspected of conspiring to create news and content on social media that discredits the Attorney General's Office in handling the corruption case of PT Timah Tbk and the sugar importation at the Ministry of Trade.

Interrogated from Monday morning (21/5/2025) until night, Tian Bahtiar was finally designated as a suspect. Tian, along with Marcella Santoso and Junaedi Saibih, was named as suspects for obstructing investigations, prosecutions, and court examinations handled by the Attorney General's Office.

The case in question pertains to the corruption of tin commodities within the Mining Business License of PT Timah Tbk and the alleged corruption in sugar imports at the Ministry of Trade during 2015-2016, which is currently still in process at the Jakarta Corruption Court.

"There is a malicious conspiracy between the suspects MS (Marcella Santoso), JS (Junaedi Saibih), along with suspect TB (Tian Bahtiar) as the Director of News at JAK TV to prevent, obstruct, or thwart directly or indirectly in the handling of the case," said the Director of Investigation of the Attorney General's Office for Special Crimes, Abdul Qohar, during a press conference on Tuesday (22/4/2025) in the early hours.

For that, Tian Bahtiar is said to have received Rp478.5 million paid by Marcella Santoso and Junaedi Saibih. In relation to that, investigators confiscated a number of pieces of evidence in the form of documents and invoices for news that discredited the AGO in handling the case, as well as a recapitulation of negative news about the AGO.

Some of the confiscated evidence were documents regarding the needs of social movements, survey institutions, national seminars, building public narratives, key opinion leaders regarding handling cases of tin commodity trade, at a cost of Rp 2.4 billion.

Investigators also confiscated an invoice of Rp153.5 million for payment of 14 news topics on the reasons for not following up on the sugar import case; 18 news topics on Jamin Ginting's response; 10 news topics on Ronald Loblobly; and 15 news topics on Dian Puji and Prof Romli's response.

Other evidence is an invoice of Rp20 million for payment for news coverage in 9 mainstream and general media, media monitoring and Tiktok Jakarta content on June 4, 2024; campaign documents via podcasts and streaming media; and a recapitulation of negative news about the prosecutor's office in 24 online media.

Investigators also seized the report on the realization of news from Tian to Marcella, documents uploaded regarding the handling of the tin case and sugar imports at the Ministry of Trade, media monitoring reports, and analytical reports on the corruption case involving tin, as well as a recap of content and comments on the Instagram platform concerning the handling of the tin case and sugar imports at the Ministry of Trade.

In addition, investigators seized social media reports on the Instagram platform regarding the tin case and media monitoring reports for the Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) for the period of June 3, 2024, as well as documents related to the extortion and money laundering schemes involving certain individuals from Jampidsus.

The three suspects are charged under Article 21 of the Law on the Eradication of Corruption Crimes in conjunction with Article 55 Paragraph (1) number 1 of the Criminal Code. After being designated as suspects, they were immediately detained, except for Marcella Santoso, who was already in custody in connection with the alleged bribery or gratification case at the Central Jakarta District Court.

Qohar stated that the case of obstruction of investigation, prosecution, and judicial process is an extension of the investigation into the bribery or gratification case at the Central Jakarta District Court. Investigators found several documents that are accountability reports related to what has been done by the three suspects.

The investigators then conducted a search and found electronic evidence that corresponded with the seized documents. This was subsequently corroborated by witnesses.

It was mentioned that Marcella Santoso and Junaedi Saibih commissioned Tian Bahtiar to create news and negative content that undermined the Prosecutor's Office in handling the tin case and sugar imports, both during the investigation, prosecution, and trial stages. From there, Tian Bahtiar subsequently published it on social media, online media, and JAK TV news, resulting in a negative perception of the Prosecutor's Office.

Conversely, Junaedi Saibih is said to have created a narrative and positive opinion for the legal team of Marcella Santoso and Junaedi Saibih, stating that the methodology for calculating state financial losses conducted by the prosecutor's office is incorrect and misleading. This was included in the news by Tian Bahtiar and published across several social media platforms and online media.

In addition, Marcella Santoso and Junaedi Saibih financed several demonstrations in an effort to thwart the investigation, prosecution, and evidence presentation of the case handled by the Attorney General's Office. On the other hand, Tian Bahtiar published news about the demonstrations in a negative light regarding the prosecution.

Marcella Santoso and Junaedi Saibih also organized and financed seminar activities, podcasts, and discussions in several online media, directing negative narratives in the reporting to influence the evidence-gathering process in court. These activities were covered by Tian Bahtiar and broadcast through JAK TV as well as the official social media accounts of JAK TV.

"The suspects MS, JS, and TB intended to shape public opinion with negative news that cornered the prosecutor's office and Jampidsus in handling the case, both during the investigation and in court, so that the prosecutor's office would be viewed negatively by the public and the case would not proceed or be proven in court," said Qohar.

In addition, Marcella Santoso and Junaedi Saibih also denied the facts when questioned regarding the trial of the crude palm oil (CPO) export facility case, which was subsequently dismissed. At that time, before the case was decided, a clerk with the initials WS provided a draft decision to Marcella Santoso and Junaedi Saibih for correction, to determine whether the decision was in accordance with what was requested. However, when questioned by investigators, both denied this.

"It can be stated that regarding several actions taken earlier, it includes the element of intentionally destroying evidence in the corruption case. Secondly, it also involves individuals who provide false information or incorrect information during the investigation process," said Qohar.

Head of the Attorney General's Office's Legal Information Center Harli Siregar added that as legal counsel for the parties in the case, Marcella Santoso and Junaedi Saibih have a legal team that represents the parties in the case in court. In addition, they have a social engineering team tasked with shaping public opinion.

According to Qohar, his party did not take the route of reporting JAK TV to the Press Council because the news and content published by JAK TV have been designed or created in such a way by the suspects to discredit the prosecutor's institution. The reporting is intended to shape public opinion that everything done and handled by the investigators is incorrect and carried out based on an agreement.

Therefore, Qohar continued, there is a legal team and a social engineering team which are intended to share roles and tasks to achieve that goal.

"So that's where the mens rea already exists," said Qohar.

In addition, Qohar stated that Tian Bahtiar received money from Marcella Santoso and Junaedi Saibih personally, not in his capacity as the Director of News at JAK TV. This is because there was no written contract between JAK TV as a company and Marcella Santoso and Junaedi Saibih. Thus, there are indications that Tian Bahtiar abused his authority as the Director of News at JAK TV.