Staff Of Directorate Of Foreign Trade Become A Suspect In Steel Import Cases, The Ministry Of Trade Is Ready To Help With The Legal Process

JAKARTA - Secretary-General of the Ministry of Trade, Suhanto, said that the Ministry of Trade appreciates the ongoing legal process in the alleged corruption case in the import of iron or steel, alloy steel, and their derivative products involving an employee of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade.

The suspect in the alleged corruption case in the steel license is Tahan Banuera. He is the Head of Sub-Division for Administration for the 2017-2018 period and the Head of Miscellaneous Industries for the 2018-2020 period at the Directorate of Imports, Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Trade.

Currently, Tahan Banurea is a Young Import Trade Analyst at the Directorate of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade.

"Of course, we are very concerned about the current conditions. However, the Ministry of Trade supports the ongoing legal process and is ready to always provide information needed in the law enforcement process," said Suhanto, in a written statement, quoted on Sunday, May 22.

For this reason, Suhanto supports the legal process if it is proven that abuse of authority has occurred. According to Suhanto, the Ministry of Trade is ready to provide information needed in the law enforcement process.

Suhanto also said that his party always carries out what the Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi has always emphasized that the ranks of the Ministry of Trade are obliged to carry out licensing services in the trade sector according to the provisions and in a transparent manner.

"The Ministry of Trade is always ready to assist the ongoing law enforcement process, because acts of corruption and abuse of authority cause state losses and have an impact on the national economy and harm the community," he said.

In addition, Suhanto ensured that licensing in the trade sector had been implemented through an electronic system. The digitization of permits is intended to speed up services and at the same time avoid meetings with business actors. This system can prevent corruption.

"One of the goals of digitizing permits is to prevent corruption in the licensing process. The Ministry of Trade is very serious about building an anti-corruption system," he said.

As previously reported, the Junior Attorney General's Investigator for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) at the Attorney General's Office has named one suspect for alleged corruption in the import of iron or steel in 2016-2021. The suspect is called Tahan Banurea (TB), a Young Import Trade Analyst at the Directorate of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Trade.

Prior to being named a suspect, investigators conducted an examination of Resi Banurea in the round building. The suspect Detained came out of the roundabout at around 22:54 western Indonesia time, wore a pink vest, and was then taken into the prisoner's car for detention at the Salemba Detention Center, South Jakarta District Attorney's Office.

Previously, the Director of Jampidsus Investigation at the Attorney General's Office, Supardi, revealed the articles used in this case, namely Article 2 and Article 3 of the Corruption Law.

"It's still Article 2, Article 3 remains. In the case of steel imports, there will be indications of bribery or not," Supardi said, Wednesday, May 18, evening.

In this case, investigators once conducted a search at the Ministry of Trade Office in April 2022 and confiscated cash worth IDR 63,350,000, as well as electronic evidence.

Previously, the Head of the Legal Information Center (Kapuspenkum) at the Attorney General's Office, Ketut Sumedana, explained that cases of alleged criminal acts occurred between 2016 and 2021. There are six companies that import iron or steel, guide steel, and their derivative products using an explanation letter (sujel) or import agreements without PI and LS issued by the Directorate of Imports of the Ministry of Trade.

Explanation Letter was issued on the basis of an importer's request with the reason that it was used in the context of procuring construction materials for road and bridge construction projects on the pretext of having a cooperation agreement with four SOEs.

The four SOEs are PT Waskita Karya, PT Wijaya Karya, PT Nindya Karya, and PT Pertamina Gas (Pertagas).

"After clarification, the four SOEs apparently never cooperated in procuring project materials, either in the form of iron or steel, with the six importers," said Ketut.

It is suspected that the six importers imported alloy steel using an explanation letter on May 26, 2020, with the excuse that it was for the purposes of road and bridge construction projects, whereas in reality the road and bridge projects in question had been completed in 2018.