Indonesia’s antitrust regulator cleared four companies of collusion in a $168 million gas pipeline tender, citing insufficient evidence.
Indonesia's antitrust regulator has handed down a rare acquittal in a bid-rigging case, clearing four companies and a government working group of allegations they colluded to fix a major gas pipeline tender.
In a decision handed down late Tuesday, the Indonesian Competition Commission, or KPPU, said that PT Timas Suplindo, PT Pratiwi Putri Sulung, state-owned construction firms Pembangunan Perumahan and Nindya Karya and the selection working group from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources had not violated Article 22 of the country’s 1999 competition law.
The key finding is that the document similarities that triggered the investigation were the result of legitimate reuse, not collusion. Panel chair Mohammad Noor Rofieq said the resemblances in wording, phrasing and formatting occurred naturally and without malicious intent, stemming from documents originally prepared for the earlier Cisem Phase 1 project.
"Without concrete evidence of this meeting of wills, the allegation of collusion cannot be considered fulfilled under competition law," Noor Rofieq said.
Investigators failed to produce phone, text or email logs, or any evidence of financial flows or promises of compensation. Witnesses testified that documents were prepared independently.
The panel also found no "plus factors," or the additional evidence required under competition law to bridge parallel conduct to a finding of collusion, rendering the accusation "merely a collection of indications and assumptions without a strong factual basis." The alleged elements of tender rigging were "not legally and convincingly met," Noor Rofieq said.
The verdict was delivered at KPPU headquarters, with panel members Rhido Jusmadi and Gopprera Panggabean also in attendance.
The case centered on the second phase of the 245-kilometer Cirebon-Semarang gas transmission pipeline project worth 2.98 trillion rupiah ($168 million). The tender was won by the joint operation, called KSO, of Timas Suplindo and Pratiwi Putri Sulung on July 14, 2024. Shortly after, the KPPU received a public report alleging collusion, and the case went to trial on Oct. 2, 2025.
Investigators had pointed to several red flags: repeated amendments to tender documents, disruptions in the procurement system, acceptance of bids outside the designated electronic platform and significant similarities in technical submissions between the winning KSO and the Pembangunan Perumahan-Nindya Karya KSO. Of the seven original participants, only two consortia reached the final bidding stage.
The defendants explained that the overlapping documents — covering work implementation descriptions, construction safety plans and quality control plans — traced back to proposals first prepared for the Cisem Phase 1 tender, and that nothing prevented those earlier participants from reusing them.
Expert witness Sukarmi testified that "circumstantial evidence cannot stand alone as the basis for alleging a conspiracy" and must be corroborated by direct communication evidence — which investigators were unable to provide.
Muhamad Yahdi Salampessy of Alaka Strategic Legal Consulting, representing one of the defendants, told MLex the result was welcome. "We are certainly very happy," he said.
Source: MLex
