Central Jakarta District Court declines pretrial motion of former Deputy Head of National Nutrition Agency
The Central Jakarta District Court has declined to hear a pretrial motion filed by Lodewyk Pusung, former Deputy Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), in connection with an alleged corruption case involving the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme.
Sole judge Firman Akbar stated that the court lacked authority to adjudicate Pusung’s pretrial motion because the matter under challenge does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Central Jakarta District Court.
“The respondent’s (Attorney General’s Office) exception regarding jurisdiction is granted,” Judge Firman said during the pretrial ruling hearing in Jakarta on Monday.
As a result, Judge Firman ruled not to assess the legality of the arrest, search, seizure, suspect designation, or detention of Pusung.
Judge Firman said Pusung’s case falls within the jurisdiction of the South Jakarta District Court, and therefore the pretrial motion should have been filed there.
Although Pusung’s pretrial motion at the South Jakarta District Court was also rejected for the same reason, Judge Firman said the former BGN Deputy Head may still refile it.
“The South Jakarta District Court ruling has not examined the merits of the petition, so it does not prevent the petitioner from refiling,” Judge Firman said.
In his pretrial motion, Pusung requested that his suspect status in the alleged MBG corruption case be revoked.
“We hope the panel of judges declares invalid all decisions or determinations issued by the respondent (Attorney General’s Office) regarding the suspect designation of the petitioner (Pusung),” said OC Kaligis during a hearing at the Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday (13/8).
According to Kaligis, investigators lacked strong evidence and a valid legal basis for designating his client as a suspect.
Beyond the suspect designation, Kaligis also raised objections regarding the arrest, search, detention, and asset seizure of his client.
These actions, he said, were carried out arbitrarily because they did not comply with applicable legal procedures.
Pusung is one of the suspects in an alleged corruption case involving the governance of the MBG programme at BGN for 2025–2026.
Together with other suspects, he is alleged to have inflated the procurement prices of several goods at BGN, including 21,801 electric motorcycles with a total procurement value of Rp1.035 trillion.
The funds were paid to PT YAT, which did not meet the requirements as a vendor because it lacked an active dealership or workshop, and there was a price mark-up. The price inflation caused waste and losses to state finances.
For his actions, Pusung is charged under Article 603 in conjunction with Article 20 letter a or c of Law Number 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code, in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of Corruption as amended and supplemented by Law Number 20 of 2001.
In addition to Pusung, four other suspects have been named in the case: former BGN Head Dadan Hindayana, former BGN Deputy Head for Operational Nutrition Fulfilment Sony Sonjaya, Asep Yusuf Soemantri, and PT Yasa Artha Trimanunggal (YAT) Commissioner Andri Mulyono.