The Nature of the Legal Liability of State-Owned Enterprise Boards of Directors for the Reimbursement of State Financial Losses in Corruption Crimes

Abstract

Corruption within State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) is a serious problem and a big challenge in state financial governance, because in the management of SOEs directors, it often has implications for abuse of authority that causes state financial losses and deprives the community of socio-economic rights. The Board of Directors of SOEs as an organ of the company has strategic authority in the management of company finances derived from the separated state wealth. Therefore, when the Board of Directors abuses its authority and causes state losses, the Board of Directors can be held judicially accountable, including through the mechanism of reimbursement of state financial losses. This study aims to analyze the nature of the juridical responsibility of the Board of Directors of SOEs related to the return of state financial losses in corruption crimes.

The type of research used in this study is normative legal research that is qualitative and supported by a case approach as supporting data. Normative legal research is a study that examines positive legal provisions, legal principles, legal principles, and legal doctrine in order to answer the legal issues faced. In this study, the problem approaches used include the statute approach, the conceptual approach, the case approach, and the comparative approach.

The results of the study show that the return of state financial losses is an important part of the eradication of corruption crimes because it is related to the recovery of state assets (asset recovery). In practice, the application of the penalty of money in lieu of state financial losses as stipulated in the Law on the Eradication of Corruption still shows inconsistencies. This is reflected in the case of PT Sang Hyang Seri (Persero) related to the fictitious subsidized seed project and PT Waskita Karya (Persero) Tbk related to the mark up and fictitious project. This study uses Aristotle's theory of justice and Gustav Radbruch's theory of legal purpose to analyze the accountability of the Board of Directors of SOEs for the return of losses. Therefore, the accountability of the Board of Directors of SOEs for the return of state losses should not only be oriented to formalistic justice, but must focus on substantive justice and proportionate recovery of state losses.

Keywords: Corporate Corruption, SOE Directors, State Financial Losses, Recovery

DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/152-04

Publication date: May 28^th 2026