The Attorney General's Office Examines Coordinating Ministry For The Economy Officials Regarding The Sugar Import Corruption Case

The Attorney General's Office examined an official from the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy as a witness in the investigation into the alleged corruption case of sugar importation at the Ministry of Trade in 2015 '2016.

"The team of investigating prosecutors at the Directorate of Investigation of the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) examined IKHP as Head of the Legal and Organizational Bureau at the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy of the Republic of Indonesia," said Head of the Legal Information Center (Kapuspenkum) AGO Harli Siregar as reported by ANTARA, Friday, December 20.

In addition to IKHP, he said, investigators also examined an employee of the Ministry of Trade, namely YEND as a Civil Servant / Young Expert Trade Analysis (Fungsional Tertentu) at the Sub-Directorate of Marine Forestry of the Directorate of Imported Fisheries at the Director General of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade from 2022 until now.

Another witness examined by investigators was AA as President Director of PT Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia (PPI) from August 24, 2016 to April 24, 2020.

Harli said the three witnesses were examined for the suspect on behalf of Thomas Trikasih Lembong (TTL) or Tom Lembong and his friends.

"The examination of this witness is to strengthen the evidence and complete the filing in the case," he said.

Previously, the AGO named two suspects in the case, namely Tom Lembong as Minister of Trade for the 2015'2016 period and CS as Director of Business Development of PT PPI.

The AGO explained that this case began when Tom Lembong as Minister of Trade at that time gave PT AP a permit to import 105,000 tons of raw crystal sugar to be processed into white crystal sugar.

In fact, in a coordination meeting between ministries on May 12, 2015, it was concluded that Indonesia was experiencing a sugar surplus so that it did not require sugar imports.

The AGO said that the import approval issued was also not through a coordination meeting with related agencies and without a recommendation from the Ministry of Industry to find out domestic sugar needs.