Attorney General's Office: Free Nutritious Meal Program Should Be Managed by Schools, but Appointed Foundations are Linked to National Nutrition Agency Officials

The Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung) officially named and detained three former leaders of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) on Wednesday (3/6/2025). The detainees include the Head of BGN, Dadan Hindayana, and two deputy heads, Sony Sonjaya and Lodewyk Pusung. In a press conference, the Director of Investigations at the Attorney General’s Office, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, highlighted serious governance failures within the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme.

According to Syarief, the MBG programme should ideally be managed by foundations within each school. However, in practice, the foundations appointed by SPPG partners were entities used as vehicles for criminal activity and were affiliated with BGN officials or employees who did not meet the necessary requirements to serve as partners. These foundations were appointed through the manipulation of the verification process on the BGN partner portal, directed by the suspects.

“These foundations receive billions of rupiah in incentives every day, and these foundations are affiliated with, among others, being owned by the relatives of DH, SS, and LP (the suspects),” said Syarife.

In addition to owning these affiliated foundations, Syarief stated that Dadan, acting alongside Sony and Lodewyk, unlawfully intervened in the procurement processes of the BGN by influencing Commitment Making Officers (PPK). Consequently, the procurement of goods and services was not aligned with actual field requirements, leading to significant mark-ups.

Syarief further detailed the procurement of goods deemed unnecessary for the operation of the MBG programme, including the procurement of 21,821 electric motorcycles totalling Rp1 trillion; 32,000 pairs of shoes; 31,000 tablets; and 5,400 units of 75-inch televisions.

“This case has resulted in losses to state finances,” Syarief concluded.