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View all search resultsHearings on alleged accomplices continue despite Tom Lembong's pardon
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Acquitted: Former trade minister Thomas Lembong waves to journalists on Aug. 1 upon walking out of the Salemba Detention Center in Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto granted absolution to Thomas, who was convicted in a graft case pertaining to sugar imports. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A.)
L
egal proceedings against alleged accomplices in a sugar import corruption case continue despite a presidential pardon having been granted to former trade minister Thomas Lembong, the main suspect in the case.
Nine executives of private sugar companies appeared at the Jakarta Corruption Court for their trials last week and again on Tuesday.
They are accused of profiting from a policy issued by Thomas a decade ago that allowed private sugar refineries to import raw sugar through state-owned trading company PT Perdagangan Indonesia (PPI) despite prevailing regulations stipulating that such imports had to be carried out by state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
Thomas and then-PPI director Charles Sitorus were sentenced to prison in mid-July. But some two weeks later, President Prabowo Subianto granted Thomas absolution, a constitutional mechanism that cancels an ongoing criminal prosecution.
Criminal law expert Chairul Huda of Muhammadiyah University in Jakarta (UMJ) told The Jakarta Post that with all legal processes and consequences against Thomas now nullified, the cases against his accomplices should also be dropped.
“How can there still be a criminal offense by accomplices when the principal offense no longer exists?” Chairul said on Wednesday, noting that according to prevailing anti-corruption law, offenses committed by accomplices were dependent on the main perpetrator’s actions.
“As the Attorney General is obliged to terminate the prosecution against Thomas, he is also obliged to stop the proceedings against the other defendants,” Chairul said, adding that the court should also remove these cases from the case register.
