• Ford Motor Indonesia Facing a Tax Scandal & Lawsuit

    In early 2016 Ford Motor Indonesia, the local unit of American car-maker Ford Motor Company, announced it will have completed its exit from Indonesia (and Japan) by the start of 2017. This decision was made because Ford has been unable to compete with its Japanese counterparts on the markets of Indonesia and Japan. The sudden move to exit Indonesia was not warmly welcomed by Ford Motor Co's dealers in Indonesia. The 31 Ford local dealerships demanded USD $75 million in compensation. More recently, Ford Motor Indonesia has become the center of a tax scandal.

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  • Construction of Jakarta's Island Reclamation Project Can Resume

    The Indonesian government announced that the moratorium on the construction of the grand reclamation project off the bay of Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta has been lifted. In April 2016 Indonesian President Joko Widodo suspended all activities related to the project due to alleged violations of and/or hiatuses in Indonesian law. Moreover, a corruption scandal emerged involving one of the developers of the land reclamation project and a local Jakarta councilor.

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  • Corruption in Indonesia: Agung Podomoro Land Bribery Case

    Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (abbreviated KPK) is satisfied with the decision of the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor) to sentence Ariesman Widjaja, former General Director of Agung Podomoro Land, to three years in prison and IDR 200 million (approx. USD $15,300) in fines (or three additional months inmprisonment). Although prosecutors demanded a four year prison sentence and IDR 250 million in fines, the decision of the court is acceptable according to Indonesia's anti-corruption watchdog.

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  • 2009 Mining Law Indonesia: Mineral Ore Export Ban Delayed until 2022?

    Indonesia is currently discussing the revisions that need to be made to the 2009 Mining Law (Law No. 4/2009 on Mineral and Coal Mining). As there is a lack of progress with the development of smelting (processing) facilities in Indonesia, authorities may decide to postpone the full implementation of the ban on exports of unprocessed mineral ore by five years. Initially, this ban was supposed to come into effect in January 2014. However, it was pushed back to 11 January 2017 to allow more time for smelter development in Southeast Asia's largest economy.

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