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Former minister Thomas Lembong’s legal team to file pretrial motion against AGO
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Former trade minister Thomas Lembong wears a detainee jacket on Tuesday after the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) named him a suspect in a corruption case . He has been accused of embezzling Rp 400 billion (US$25.39 million) in state funds in connection to sugar imports during his time in office from 2015 to 2016. Lembong campaigned on behalf of the Anies Baswedan-Muhahimin Iskandar ticket in February’s presidential election. (Antara Foto/Rivan Awal Lingga. )
T
he legal advisory team of former trade minister Thomas Lembong is considering filing a pretrial motion challenging the Attorney General’s Office’s (AGO) decision to name him a graft suspect concerning a sugar import project he greenlighted nearly a decade ago.
Thomas, who served as trade minister from 2015 to 2016, was arrested by the AGO late last month for alleged embezzlement that caused Rp 400 billion (US$25.38 million) in state losses from a sugar import project in 2015.
The former minister reportedly authorized private company PT Angel Product (AP) to import 105,000 tonnes of raw sugar despite prevailing regulations stipulating that only state-owned enterprises (SOEs) could import the commodity and a ministerial coordination meeting concluding that there was already a surplus of raw sugar nationally.
Thomas’ legal advisory team head Ari Yusuf Amir said in a media briefing on Monday that they found the AGO’s decision to arrest the ex-minister “confusing” and claimed that the legal allegations against him are “iffy”.
“Based on the data we collected, there never was a surplus of sugar [during Thomas’ time], that’s what baffled us,” Ari said. “So it would be great if the investigators from the AGO could share their findings with us.”
Thomas also recently said that it was “impossible that there was a sugar surplus” when he ordered the import, according to Ari.
Read also: Former minister Thomas Lembong arrested in sugar import graft case
