Tom Lembong's Abolition, President Prabowo's Corrective Signal To Law Enforcement

Former Minister of Trade (Mendag), Thomas Trikasih Lembong eyebrows Tom Lembong (ANTARW)

JAKARTA - Abolition from President Prabowo Subianto to Tom Lembong, reaps the pros and cons of the public. Is this President Prabowo's signal that the Attorney General's Office should take action against all sugar mafias, or because of political pressure.

Abolition against Tom Lembong's verdict, the public was confused, is this a pardon for the elite?.

Iskandar Sitorus, Secretary of Founder of Indonesian Audit Watch (IAW), believes that if the abolition is not forgiveness, it is a corrective signal from the President that the legal process against Tom is flawed from the start.

Tom Lembong was sentenced based on an audit by the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP), which is not legally a constitutional audit agency.

According to Iskandar, in the Indonesian state financial system, the only constitutionally valid state auditors are the BPK (Financial Audit Agency) as emphasized in Article 23E of the 1945 Constitution and Law Number 15 of 2006.

"So, this subscription can be read as a correction to an unfair legal process and at the same time a strong warning to the legal system that only punishes one person in a collective crime," Iskandar said in his statement, Monday, August 4.

Iskandar emphasized that in the last 20 years, BPK has recorded 91 cases of irregularities in sugar imports from 2004 to 2024 with a potential state loss of IDR 31.6 trillion.

However, of the many cases, only one person was criminally punished, namely Tom Lembong, and that was also based on the BPKP audit.

"According to the law, the BPKP audit is only for the President's internal consumption and cannot be used as a criminal evidence," said Iskandar.

IAW's data, both the Attorney General's Office and the KPK, for two decades only processed 7 out of 91 cases. The rest was kept quiet.

In fact, various BPK LHPs mentioned the same pattern, namely mark-ups, smuggling quotas, and irregularities of authority in pricing and volume of sugar imports.

Iskandar emphasized that this subscription does not mean ending the legal process. On the contrary, this subscription to Tom Lembong, is a stern warning and an explicit signal from President Prabowo to the Attorney General's Office and the KPK to continue the process of investigation and prosecution to other Trade Ministers involved in the policies and game of sugar import quotas.

"The president seems to be saying subtlely, if only Tom is the one you are law on, then I will withdraw his sentence. But I ask you to continue the process against others," he said.

According to Iskandar, Tom Lembong is only part of a bigger policy-making circle.

The sugar import policy is impossible without the inter-ministerial approval and intervention of big entrepreneurs.

IAW recommends that the Attorney General's Office must immediately reopen 84 cases of sugar imports that have stalled, using the BPK LHP as legal basis.

Iskandar also asked that all names and institutions that appeared in the Tom Lembong trial must be examined as witnesses or potential suspects.

Not only that, IAW also asked the KPK to investigate the quota mafia network and price conspiracy, in the national sugar import system.

"IAW asked the Supreme Court and the Judicial Commission to reassess the jurisdiction of Tom's case, and formulate new guidelines so that the BPKP audit is no longer used in criminal cases," said Iskandar.