The Attorney General's Office Examines 5 Witnesses In The Tom Lembong Sugar Corruption Case, 3 Of Which Are From PT Angels Product

Kapuspenkum AGO, Harli Siregar (Rizky AP/VOI)

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) continues to examine witnesses regarding the handling of the alleged sugar import case at the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) for the 2015-2016 period. Most recently, investigators examined five witnesses, three of whom were representatives of PT Angels Product.

"Examining five witnesses, related to the alleged corruption case in sugar importation activities," said Head of the AGO, Harli Siregar, to reporters, Thursday, December 19.

The three witnesses from PT Angels Product are DC as an employee, ZF who is a section head, and AMS as Head of IT Section.

PT Angels Products is known to be a business entity engaged in the crystal sugar refinery industry.

However, it was not conveyed in detail about the examination material which took place on Wednesday, December 18. Only mentioned in the series of examinations, two of which were LM as Accounting Manager for PT Andalan Furnindo and DSHG who were Legal PT Sentra UsATama Jaya.

"The witness examination was carried out to strengthen the evidence and complete the filing in the case," said Harli.

In investigating the alleged corruption case of sugar imports, investigators have examined 130 witnesses.

"Until now, around 130 witnesses have been questioned," said Harli.

In this case, the AGO named Tom Lembong, who is the Minister of Trade for the 2015-2016 period as a suspect. The reason is because he gave permission to import 105,000 tons of sugar to private companies.

The granting of the permit violates the Decree of the Minister of Trade Number 527 of 2004. This is because only state-owned companies or SOEs are allowed to import sugar.

Thus, Tom Lembong was charged with Article 2 Paragraph 1 or Article 3 Juncto Article 18 of the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 31 of 1999 concerning Corruption Crime in conjunction with Article 55 Paragraph 1 of the 1st Criminal Procedure Code.