AGO: State Losses in Free Nutritious Meal Programme Reach Rp10.5 Trillion Per Year

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) stated it has four pieces of evidence implicating former Deputy Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) Lodewyk Pusung in the corruption case concerning the management of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme at the BGN for 2025-2026. The AGO legal team said Lodewyk’s designation as a suspect was based on the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes’ determination letter Number: TAP 35 dated 3 July 2026. “Investigators obtained four pieces of evidence, namely witness testimony, expert testimony, electronic evidence (conversations between the Petitioner and other parties including his wife), and documentary evidence,” the team stated during a pretrial hearing at the South Jakarta District Court on Tuesday (28/7). The AGO affirmed that the entire law enforcement process against Lodewyk was conducted in accordance with applicable procedural law. Prior to taking action against Lodewyk, the AGO had carried out an investigation based on an Investigation Order dated 15 February 2026, examined witnesses, conducted a case review, and elevated the case to the prosecution stage based on an order dated 29 May 2026. During the investigation phase, the AGO obtained evidence in the form of witness and expert statements, as well as documents and other evidence. The AGO had also previously examined Lodewyk as a witness before naming him a suspect, in compliance with the Constitutional Court’s ruling in case number 21/PUU-XII/2014. “The Petitioner’s argument that the Respondent first named a suspect and then sought evidence, or that the Petitioner was never examined as a witness, is untrue,” the AGO stated. During the pretrial hearing, the AGO said it had cooperated with the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) to calculate state financial losses in the case. “In the examination process by the BPKP, a state financial loss was declared. The BPKP’s audit working papers on the MBG programme’s governance stated that there was waste in the MBG programme at the BGN amounting to Rp10.5 trillion per year,” the legal team said. The AGO requested that the sole judge at the South Jakarta District Court, Abdul Affandi, reject the pretrial motion registered under case number 105/Pid.Pra/2026/PN.Jkt Sel filed by Lodewyk. The AGO has previously named a total of seven suspects in the corruption case concerning the management of the Free Nutritious Meal programme for the 2025-2026 period. The seven are former BGN Head Dadan Hindayana, former BGN Deputy Heads Sony Sonjaya and Lodewyk Pusung, Sony’s associate Asep Yusuf Somantri, Commissioner of PT Yasa Artha Trimanunggal Andri Mulyono, Chairman of the Indonesia Food Security Review Foundation Glory Harimas Sihombing, and Secretary of the BGN Deputy for Promotion and Cooperation Brigadier General Lalu Muhammad Iwan Mahardan. The AGO explained that the MBG programme should have been managed by Nutrition Service and Fulfilment Unit (SPPG) foundations affiliated with recipient schools. However, in practice, many SPPGs were appointed due to their affiliations with BGN officials, and many foundations did not actually meet the requirements to become SPPG partners. Furthermore, there were mark-ups on procurement prices, causing losses that did not support the operational implementation of the MBG programme, including 21,801 electric motorcycles worth Rp1.03 trillion, 32,000 pairs of shoes, 31,994 tablets, and 5,400 75-inch televisions.