Tom Lembong Sugar Import Corruption Case, AGO Examines Former Secretary Of The Trade Minister

Kapuspenkum AGO Harli Siregar/DOK IST

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) is examining three witnesses regarding the alleged sugar import case at the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) for the 2015-2016 period. Of these witnesses, one of them is Ida Dewi Santi as the former Secretary of the Minister of Trade.

"Examination of IDS alias Ida Dewi Santi who is the Secretary of the Minister of Trade," said Head of the Attorney General's Office, Harli Siregar, to VOI, Monday, January 6.

Meanwhile, the other two witnesses, namely Nur Ahmad Saifullah, are Project Managers of PT Sucofindo and Siyam Sunarsah as the Central Statistics Agency.

But it was not conveyed in detail about the material or what was explored by the three witnesses.

"The three witnesses were examined in connection with the investigation of the alleged corruption case in the activity of importing sugar at the Ministry of Trade," said Harli.

In investigating the alleged corruption case of sugar imports, investigators have examined more than a hundred witnesses. This number will continue to grow as the investigation process is still ongoing.

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.

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 Crimes Juncto Article 55 Paragraph 1 1 of the Criminal Procedure Code.