AGO Asked To Investigate 8 Private Corporations In Tom Lembong Sugar Import Case

Former Trade Minister Thomas Trikasih Lembong or Tom Lembong has been named by the AGO for corruption in sugar imports. (Rizky A-VOI)

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has been urged to investigate eight private corporations in the alleged corruption case of importing raw crystal sugar for the 2015'2016 period involving the suspect Tom Lembong.

Chairman of the Legal and Criminological Society (Mahupiki) Firman Wijaya in his statement received in Jakarta, Tuesday, assessed that in this sugar import case, there was a pattern of crime in the relationship between the policy of importing raw crystal sugar issued by suspect Tom Lembong and the private company involved.

"The corruption occurred because of the high collar crime pattern as a development of the concept of white collar crime, where this crime relationship occurs because of the strategic position in making bureaucratic decisions that provide certain business privileges to large corporations," he said.

Therefore, he urged investigators at the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) at the AGO to continue developing the case until it touched the private corporations involved.

"So, it is better for corporations who are importers due to the sugar import policy decided by former Trade Minister Tom Lembong to be immediately examined in the context of criminal liability and recovery for state losses," he said.

On the other hand, the senior advocate believes that the AGO investigators have worked professionally and transparently in handling this case. According to him, the investigation process of Tom Lembong as a suspect is in accordance with the right path or on the track.

It is known that the AGO has 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 Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia (PPI).

In his statement, the AGO said that this case began when Tom Lembong as 2015 '2016 Minister of Trade gave permission to import 105,000 tons of crystal sugar to PT AP to be processed into white crystal sugar.

In fact, in the inter-ministerial coordination meeting (rakor) on May 12, 2015, it was concluded that Indonesia was experiencing a sugar surplus, so 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.

On December 28, 2015, in a coordination meeting in the economic sector attended by the ministry under the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, it was discussed that Indonesia in 2016 lacked 200,000 tons of white crystal sugar in the context of stabilizing sugar prices and fulfilling national sugar stocks.

In November 2015, suspect CS as Director of Business Development of PT PPI ordered his subordinates to hold meetings with eight private sugar companies, namely PT PDSU, PT AF, PT AP, PT MT, PT BMM, PT SUJ, PT DSI, and PT MSI.

The meeting was to discuss cooperation in importing raw crystal sugar to be processed into white crystal sugar.

In January 2016, suspect Tom Lembong signed an assignment letter to PT PPI which essentially assigned the company to fulfill national sugar stocks and stabilize sugar prices in collaboration with domestic sugar producers to process raw crystal sugar into sugar crystals of 300,000 tons.

Furthermore, PT PPI made a cooperation agreement with the eight companies. The AGO said that in order to fulfill sugar stocks and stabilize prices, what should be imported was crystal white sugar directly and that only imports were State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN), namely PT PPI.

However, with the suspect Tom Lembong's knowledge and approval, the import approval of raw crystal sugar was signed. The eight companies tasked with processing raw crystal sugar actually only have a license to produce refined sugar.

The results of the white crystal sugar produced by the eight companies were then as if they were bought by PT PPI. In fact, the sugar is sold by private companies to the public through a distributor affiliated with a price of Rp. 16,000 per kilogram, higher than the Highest Retail Price (HET) which is Rp. 13,000 per kilogram and is not carried out through market operations.

From this practice, PT PPI received a salary of IDR 105 per kilogram from the eight companies involved.

State losses arising from these actions amounted to approximately Rp400 billion, namely the value of profits obtained by eight private companies that should belong to BUMN or PT PPI.