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Former minister Thomas Lembong arrested in sugar import graft case

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) suspects former trade minister Thomas Lembong of committing corruption and self-enrichment thanks to his position as a minister by way of a sugar import that allegedly caused a Rp 400 billion (US$25.5 million) state loss.

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)
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Wed, October 30, 2024

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 Former minister Thomas Lembong arrested in sugar import graft case Corrupt import: Former trade minister Thomas Lembong (center) wears a detainee jacket after the Attorney General's Office (AGO) named him a suspect in a corruption case on Oct. 29. Thomas, who campaigned on behalf of the Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar ticket in February's presidential election, has been accused of embezzling state funds of Rp 400 billion (US$25.39 million) in connection with sugar imports during his time in office from 2015 to 2016. (Antara/Rivan Awal Lingga)

T

he Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has arrested former trade minister Thomas Lembong after he was named a suspect in a corruption case pertaining to sugar imports handled by the Trade Ministry between 2015 and 2016.

The arrest was the result of an investigation that started in October of last year, involving 90 witnesses.

“We also estimated the state loss incurred. This is done by experts that take a long time because this is not a simple and ordinary case,” said Abdul Qohar, investigations director at the office of the assistant attorney general for extraordinary crimes at a press briefing broadcast on AGO's YouTube channel on Tuesday evening.

The alleged corruption committed by the suspects amounted to Rp 400 billion (US$25.5 million) in state losses. The profit, which was pocketed by eight private companies, should have gone into state trading firm PT Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia (PPI), according to the AGO.

Investigators suspect that Thomas issued a permit for a private company identified as PT AP to import 105,000 tonnes of raw sugar to be processed into white sugar, despite a ministerial coordination meeting concluding that the national stock of the commodity was already in surplus. 

The import was allegedly issued by the minister without any approval from a ministerial coordination meeting or recommendation from related institutions.

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The AGO has alleged that Thomas also violated a 2004 trade and industry ministerial regulation that stipulates only state-owned enterprises (SOE) are allowed to import raw sugar.

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