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Analysis: Potential motives behind Tom Lembong graft case
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Thomas Lembong (left), wearing a detainee jacket, is escorted from the Attorney General's Office on Oct. 29, 2024, after he was named a graft suspect for allegedly embezzling Rp 400 billion (US$25.39 million) from a sugar import project during his time as trade minister from 2015 to 2016.
(Antara/Rivan Awal Lingga)
T
homas “Tom” Trikasih Lembong, former trade minister during the first term of former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, is standing trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court on charges related to alleged embezzlement of state funds with regard to raw sugar imports. However, given Tom's support for the opposition candidate Anies Baswedan in the 2024 presidential race, suspicions have arisen that the case has been orchestrated to limit the opposition and even to prevent the emergence of a potential challenger in the next election.
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) arrested Tom in October last year, accusing him of siphoning state money in the importation of raw sugar in 2015 and 2016, which resulted in Rp 578 billion (US$40 million) in losses, according to the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) which the AGO has used to build the case against him.
Tom, however, argued that another audit by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) showed that no state losses were incurred in the importation commissioned by the Trade Ministry during said period.
According to the Supreme Court, the BPK is considered the sole authority to declare state losses, and the BPKP has no right to conduct a counter audit.
State prosecutors said that as trade minister at the time, Tom approved two botched imports when the country already had a surplus of raw sugar, which was later proven not to have enriched him.
However, his approval is believed to have allowed eight private companies to keep profits intended for the state-owned trading company PT Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia (PPI).
Tom said such a policy was common and practiced by his predecessors to maintain the national stock. That the AGO has singled him out only shows inequality before the law.
