An Indonesian court has found the head of PT Koba Tin not guilty of illegal mining in a protected forest, Reuters reported. Kamardin Md Top, president director of Koba Tin, was detained in mid-February after an investigation by the forestry ministry into the company’s mining activities in the Bangka-Belitung islands, Indonesia’s main source of tin. Koba is owned 75% by Malaysia Smelting Corporation and 25% by PT Timah.
“Charges against the defendant were unfounded. Permits for operation of the tin dredge were legal,” Tjahjono, the head of the Sungailiat court, told reporters after the trial late on Thursday.
The prosecution was brought following allegations that Koba’s Merapin dredge was occupying and mining in a protected forest area in Lubuk Besar. In a statement MSC said that the dredge “had in fact ceased operation in October 2002 due to exhaustion of reserves and had since been kept under care and maintenance basis with the approval of the Directorate General of Energy and Mineral Resources.” The declaration of the protected forest area was not made until October 2004.
