The Former Chairman of the Ombudsman, Hery Susanto, Actually Directed the MBG Program Not to be 'touched'

JAKARTA - The Ombudsman's Ethics Council revealed that the non-active Ombudsman Chairman Hery Susanto had instructed his staff not to "touch" the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) program.

The Chairman of the Ombudsman's Ethics Council, Jimly Asshiddiqie, regretted the direction because although MBG is a very important national program, it must still be supervised by the ORI.

"This is a lesson. Well, the evidence is that the MBG leadership is now arrested as a suspect, that means there is a problem in governance," said Jimly at a press conference in Jakarta, Monday, June 8, reported by ANTARA.

Therefore, Jimly emphasized that the ORI in the future should not be free to carry out supervision just because there is a government flagship program.

Jimly explained that Hery's instructions were revealed by several Ombudsman staff to his party during the examination.

He emphasized that as an independent public service supervisory institution, ORI must continue to oversee all government programs, including national priority programs.

Jimly did not deny that MBG was a noble program and a good idea, but its implementation must still be supervised and not left alone.

"That is the characteristic of our work culture in the feudal bureaucracy. Because there is a national program, suddenly our president is very enthusiastic, finally he doesn't dare, mingkemsemua, he doesn't dare supervise. It shouldn't be like that," he said.

The Ethics Council has imposed sanctions on Hery in the form of Dismissal Without Honor (PTDH) because it was proven to have committed a serious violation of the code of ethics and code of conduct of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Indonesia.

The alleged violations are in the form of partisanship, motive or intention, repeated acts, and have a negative impact on the work unit, institution/organization, state, and public for the violations committed.

This is related to the designation of Hery Susanto as a suspect in the alleged corruption case in nickel mining business management activities in 2013-2025.

Director of Investigation of the Attorney General's Office for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi said Hery committed this alleged criminal act while serving as a member of the Indonesian Ombudsman for the 2021-2026 period.

"The determination of the suspect was made after the investigation team obtained sufficient evidence through a series of investigative actions, searches, and others," he said at the Kejagung Jampidsus Building, Jakarta, Thursday (16/4).

In this case, Hery allegedly received a bribe of IDR 1.5 billion from the company PT TSHI, which began when PT TSHI had a problem with the calculation of non-tax state revenues (PNBP) by the Ministry of Forestry.

Then, PT TSHI sought a way out by colluding with Hery Susanto as the Commissioner of the Indonesian Ombudsman at that time.

To carry out this, he said, Hery received a sum of money from LKM who is the Director of PT TSHI.