Customs officials face probe over rice import scam<\/p>\n
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Following the arrest of five junior officials of the customs
\nand excise office, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) plans to
\nquestion two senior officials over their alleged role in the
\nillegal import of rice from Vietnam, which caused state losses of
\naround Rp 24 billion (US$2.4 million).<\/p>\n
Deputy Attorney General for special crimes Hendarman Supandji
\nsaid on Wednesday that his team would question an official from
\nthe directorate general of customs and excise and another from
\nthe directorate's Jakarta office.<\/p>\n
\"We will ask them why they allowed 60,000 tons of rice,
\nimported by a private company, to enter Indonesian territory
\nthrough their customs and excise office,\" Hendarman said.<\/p>\n
He added that the two senior officers were second echelon
\nbureaucrats who were only identified with the initials FR and SP.<\/p>\n
The case started after a firm called PT Hexatama Finindo
\nimported 60,000 tons of rice from Vietnam in 2003 in cooperation
\nwith state-owned village cooperative umbrella organization PT
\nInkud.<\/p>\n
However, Hexatama did not pay all of the import duty for all
\nof the imported rice. It allegedly forged documents stating that
\nthe rice shipments only weighed 900 tons. Therefore, the unpaid
\ntax was estimated at more than Rp 24 billion.<\/p>\n
The five junior officers who had been arrested all claimed
\nthat their bosses were also involved in the case, and now the AGO
\nintends to question the senior officials.<\/p>\n
\"We will only question them as witnesses for now. Later we
\nwill name them suspects, but not now,\" Hendarman said.<\/p>\n
Asked whether a former head of the intelligence division at
\nthe customs and excise office was among the senior officials to
\nbe questioned, Hendarman told journalists to wait for the
\nprosecutors to finish their investigations.<\/p>\n
The case was first revealed after an anticorruption watchdog
\nreported two House of Representatives members, Setya Novanto and
\nIdrus Markham, to the AGO and the Corruption Eradication
\nCommission (KPK) in February. Both men are from Golkar Party.<\/p>\n
However, the AGO has yet to charge the two legislators, who
\nallegedly signed the contracts for the rice imports. But Hexatama
\ndirector Gordanius Setyo Lelono, who is Novanto's brother, is a
\nsuspect in the case. Novanto was also implicated in the high-
\nprofile 1999 Bank Bali scandal, although a court later acquitted
\nthe senior lawmaker.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/customs-officials-face-probe-over-rice-import-scam-1447893297",
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