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Analysis: Jokowi’s hand detected in graft probe against ex-minister
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Former trade minister Thomas Lembong (left) wears a detainee jacket on Oct. 29, 2024, after the Attorney General's Office (AGO) named him a suspect in a corruption case. Thomas, who campaigned on behalf of the Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar ticket in February's presidential election, has been accused of embezzling Rp 400 billion (US$25.50 million)in state funds in connection with sugar imports during his time in office from 2015 to 2016. (Antara/Rivan Awal Lingga) (Antara/Rivan Awal Lingga)
J
oko “Jokowi” Widodo may have ceased to be president as of Oct. 20, but he apparently still exercises some power and influence over the new government, as evidenced by the corruption prosecution against Thomas Lembong, who briefly served as his trade minister.
Lembong advised and campaigned for former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan, Jokowi’s chief nemesis, in the February presidential election. Anies lost the race, but many, even in the camp of new President Prabowo Subianto, view the investigation against Lembong launched last week as politically motivated, a kind of vendetta by Jokowi.
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) is investigating Lembong for his decision, in his capacity as trade minister in 2015-2016, to give sugar import licenses to private companies, instead of state-run enterprises, as required by a 2004 regulation. Prosecutors say his decision caused Rp 400 billion ($25 million) in state losses, calculated as the potential profit that state companies would have earned if they were given the licenses.
The prosecutors have yet to establish whether any of that money made its way into Lembong’s pocket. Yet, his decision may still fall under the category of helping to enrich others, among the many definitions of corruption under the law.
In the public square, however, it is not Lembong that is being scrutinized.
On social media, netizens are calling out the AGO for probing a case going back nine years. And since Indonesia has always relied on sugar imports to meet domestic demand, they say prosecutors should open investigations against all the other five trade ministers since then. Cherry picking can only mean a political motive lies behind the move.
The lead investigator of the case Abdul Qohar, director of investigation for special crimes in the AGO, has also come into the spotlight, not for announcing that Lembong was a corruption suspect, but for the Swiss wristwatch he wore during the press briefing.
