Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has named former trade minister Thomas Trikasih Lembong as a suspect in a case of corruption related to sugar imports at the Trade Ministry during his tenure.Abdul Qohar, AGO's director for special crimes investigation, said Lembong was one of the two suspects, named on Tuesday, who were initially designated as witnesses in the case.
"(The first suspect) is TTL (Lembong's initials), Trade Minister in the 2015–2016 period," Qohar said at a press conference here on Tuesday. The other suspect has been identified with the initials CS. He served as business development director of PT Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia (PPI), a state-owned food distributor, in 2015–2016.
Qohar said that as per the case details, in 2015, Lembong knowingly provided a permit to a private company, identified as PT AP, to import raw crystal sugar despite an earlier ministerial meeting determining that Indonesia did not require sugar imports due to surplus production.
According to prevailing statutes, only state-owned enterprises are allowed to import white crystal sugar, he added. The issuance of an import permit for 105 thousand tons of raw sugar to PT AP in 2015 indicates that Lembong bypassed coordination with other ministries, including the Industry Ministry, in making the decision, Qohar said.
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Meanwhile, CS reportedly instructed his subordinates to liaise with eight companies in the national sugar sector to carry out the imports, he added. The imports were necessary due to the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs' projection that Indonesia needed another 200 thousand tons of white refined sugar in 2016.
However, instead of importing refined sugar, the companies imported raw crystal sugar to be processed by sugar refining companies in Indonesia. PT PPI then allegedly purchased the refined sugar. In fact, the eight companies sold it at an inflated price of Rp16 thousand per kg, above the highest retail price of Rp13 thousand.
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"PT PPI received Rp105 fees per kilogram of sugar from the eight sugar-importing companies," he informed.
The case caused Rp400 billion in losses to the state, he informed, adding that the two suspects will remain behind bars for at least 20 days for further investigation.
If found guilty under Article 2 Par. 1 or Article 3 of Law No. 20 of 2021 on Corruption Eradication, they may be sentenced to up to 20 years in jail or fined up to Rp1 billion.