This research selected one corruption case that was handled by the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission (CEC) since 2017 and had been finalized in court in 2021. It was the corruption case of nickel mining license in southeast Sulawesi Indonesia with NA (as the suspect’s initial), the former governor of southeast Sulawesi. This case is related to the abuse of authority in approving and issuing the Mining Permit in Southeast Sulawesi province in 2008-2014 (Supreme Court of Indonesia, 2021)
This case could act as an ideal study case because it is the first corruption case in Indonesia that used EIA in the investigation and prosecution process. In this context, EIA was used to prove how the act of corruption have an impact on environmental damage. Some techniques used in investigations are: (a) Satellite Image Analysis or Remote Sensing for land cover analysis; (b) Field Survey for environmental damage analysis with physical and biological aspect criteria; and (c) Environmental Economic Analysis.
Satellite image analysis for land cover analysis
Corruption in mining licenses in Southeast Sulawesi has an impact on changing the land cover. Remote sensing was conducted in mining areas where the mining permits were issued illegally.
Figure (1) shows the results of overlaying the Exploration Map and the Forest and Waters Area Map of Southeast Sulawesi Province with Landsat imagery dated June 28, 2009. The overlaying method was carried out to show the condition of the land cover before the issuance of the Exploration Permit. It showed that the land cover condition prior to the issuance of Exploration Permit and Production Operation Permit was still dominated by vegetated land (depicted in green color).
Then, the figure (2) showed the results of the overlay with the Landsat image recorded on October 19, 2015. Based on the figure (2), the mine openings/areas in the image were whitish to reddish in color. In addition, based on this image, it appeared that the Production Operation permit area overlapped with the Other Use permit Areas, Limited Production Forests, and Protected Forests. The next analysis was to measure the estimated area of the mine that caused the loss of land cover. The measurement results yielded an estimated total area of 357,20 hectare
Field survey for environmental damage analysis
The results of the analysis of environmental damage in mining areas with illegal licenses were shown in the table below:
Table 1. Environmental Damage Loss
Physical and biological aspect
|
Damage criteria
|
Result
|
Vegetation
|
< 50 %
|
0%
No vegetation found
|
Soil solum
|
< 50 cm
|
0 cm
No soil solum found
|
Erosion
|
> 0,9 mm
|
soil erosion 20-30 cm
|
Topography
|
>40%
|
rocks on the surface 70-80%
|
Conclusion: There is environmental damage
|
(Source: Wasis, 2017 with modification)
The results of the field survey conducted by expert witnesses showed that all aspects of environmental damage, namely vegetation, soil solum, erosion and topography were above the threshold for damage criteria. So it can be concluded that environmental damage has occurred at the location where the observation was made.
Environmental economic analysis
The area of environmental damage due to activities was 357,20 hectares as estimated by satellite imagery. Based on the valuation method, the environmental damage that occurred caused losses worth USD 288,741,408.55 with details as shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Environmental Damage Loss
Aspect
|
Value (USD)
|
Ecological Loss
|
|
Revive the function of the water system
|
20,808,951.79
|
Cost of water management
|
545,732.65
|
Erotion control
|
143,550.89
|
Land formation
|
11,962.57
|
Nutrient recycler
|
110,294.94
|
Waste decomposer
|
10,407.44
|
|
|
Loss as a result of biodiversity and genetic resource losses
|
|
cost of biodiversity loss
|
64,597.90
|
cost of losing genetic resources
|
9,809.31
|
Loss due to the release of carbon to air
|
773,021.56
|
Economic Loss
|
83,492,548.91
|
Restoration Cost
|
182,770,530.59
|
Total
|
288,741,408.55
|
(Source: Wasis, 2017)
Based on the regulations regarding the valuation of environmental losses that apply in Indonesia, the expert witness carried out economic calculations of environmental losses based on the aspects of Ecological Loss, Loss as a result of biodiversity and genetic resource losses, Economic Loss, and Restoration Cost with a total loss of USD 288,741,408.55.