AGO Reveals Long-Standing Probe into Alleged Corruption in Free Nutritious Meals Programme

The Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung) has revealed that it has long been studying the alleged corruption case within the management of the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme at the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) for the 2025–2026 period. Director of Investigation at the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, stated that the prosecution service pays particular attention to people-oriented programmes, including MBG. “We had actually been studying this for quite a while, but we needed a lot of data, which might have given the impression that the move from inquiry to investigation happened very quickly,” he said at the Jampidsus Building in Jakarta on Thursday.

Following the data collection process, he said, the AGO began its inquiry last week, and the case was escalated to an investigation on Friday. “It is because we had studied it beforehand, for quite a long time,” he remarked. Three former BGN officials have been named as suspects in the alleged corruption case concerning the management of the MBG programme for 2025–2026. They are former Head of BGN Dadan Hindayana and two former Deputy Heads, Lodewyk Pusung and Sony Sonjaya.

They allegedly unlawfully appointed affiliated foundations as partners for the Nutrition Fulfilment Service Units (SPPG) and are suspected of conducting unlawful procurement processes for both goods and services. For their actions, the suspects are charged under Article 603 in conjunction with Article 20 letter a or c of Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code, in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of Corruption, as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001. The three suspects are undergoing detention for the next 20 days starting Wednesday at the Salemba Detention Centre, a branch of the Attorney General’s Office, and the Salemba Detention Centre, a branch of the South Jakarta District Prosecutor’s Office.