Police investigations extend to owners and shareholders
National Police Chief General Suyudi Ario Seto announced the corporate suspect designations on October 21, 2026, after a plenary cabinet meeting at Jakarta's Presidential Palace complex. He withheld the companies' names but said investigators had encountered no major obstacles.
Suyudi said responsibility would not stop with the corporate entities: owners and shareholders responsible for companies linked to the fires would also be held accountable. Additional suspect announcements are expected as investigators collect evidence and meet legal requirements.
The National Police's Criminal Investigation Agency, known as Bareskrim, had previously moved 98 reports involving corporate-linked forest fires into formal investigation. Senior Commissioner Pipit Subiyanto said on October 14 that responsibility for those reports was shared by 10 regional police units and Bareskrim's Directorate of Certain Crimes, according to a police account.
West Kalimantan had the largest caseload, with 33 reports. South Sumatra had 17, Central Kalimantan 14, South Kalimantan 11, East Kalimantan seven, and Riau six. Lampung and North Kalimantan each had three, Jambi had two, and the Bangka Belitung Islands had one.
In an earlier tally covering cases through October 13, Pipit reported nine suspects in cases involving corporations: seven in West Kalimantan and one each in Central and South Kalimantan. Separately, police had designated 223 suspects in cases involving individual perpetrators, drawn from 273 reports handled by 12 regional police units.
Six more companies lose permission to operate
Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni announced that six additional companies in Central Kalimantan had their Forest Utilization Business Permits (PBPH) suspended. The action brought the ministry's total number of sanctioned forestry companies to 32.
The latest suspensions apply to PT Produk Kalimantan Jaya, PT Taiyong Engreen, PT Hutan Produk Lestari, PT Ramang Agro Lestari, PT Puspa Warna Cemerlang, and PT Sinergi Hutan Sejati. Each was also directed to carry out environmental restoration in the affected areas.
The six companies' concessions total 201,391 hectares, with recent fires affecting 7,531 hectares. Across all 32 sanctioned companies, concessions cover more than 1.9 million hectares, including 18,489 hectares affected by fires.
Raja Juli said administrative penalties would not rule out separate criminal proceedings if investigators found evidence of deliberate wrongdoing or criminal intent.
Suspensions, restoration orders, and revoked permits
An October 19 breakdown of the ministry's administrative actions, reported by Kompas.id, described several types of penalties. Forestry Law Enforcement Director General Dwi Januanto Nugroho said 19 companies had received permit suspensions coupled with orders to restore 9,546.42 hectares of burned forest ecosystem. Eight others were ordered to restore 2,211.19 hectares, while five had their permits revoked.
The ministry's October 19 announcement placed the 32 companies across seven provinces: nine in West Kalimantan, seven in Central Kalimantan, five each in South Kalimantan and South Sumatra, three in East Kalimantan, two in Jambi, and one in North Kalimantan.
The five permit revocations had been detailed in an October 12 ANTARA report. They affected PT Wana Lestari Jaya in West Kalimantan, PT Prima Multi Buana in South Kalimantan, PT Pancaran Wana Nusa in Central Kalimantan, PT Grace Putri Perdana in Central and West Kalimantan, and PT Babugus Wahana Lestari in Central Kalimantan.
Those five timber and forestry companies held approximately 92,464 hectares of concessions in total. Roughly 1,169 hectares within those concessions had burned.
Forestry Ministry pursues its own criminal cases
The Forestry Ministry is also investigating alleged forest-burning crimes involving 125 corporations and individuals, separate from its administrative enforcement, according to Kompas.id's October 19 report.
As of that date, 44 cases were in preliminary investigation and 79 were in formal investigation. The ministry had named 12 individuals and one corporation as suspects. Two corporate entities had reached the P-22 stage, involving the handover of suspects and evidence to prosecutors.
