Customs officials face probe over rice import scam

Customs officials face probe over rice import scam

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Following the arrest of five junior officials of the customs
and excise office, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) plans to
question two senior officials over their alleged role in the
illegal import of rice from Vietnam, which caused state losses of
around Rp 24 billion (US$2.4 million).

Deputy Attorney General for special crimes Hendarman Supandji
said on Wednesday that his team would question an official from
the directorate general of customs and excise and another from
the directorate's Jakarta office.

"We will ask them why they allowed 60,000 tons of rice,
imported by a private company, to enter Indonesian territory
through their customs and excise office," Hendarman said.

He added that the two senior officers were second echelon
bureaucrats who were only identified with the initials FR and SP.

The case started after a firm called PT Hexatama Finindo
imported 60,000 tons of rice from Vietnam in 2003 in cooperation
with state-owned village cooperative umbrella organization PT
Inkud.

However, Hexatama did not pay all of the import duty for all
of the imported rice. It allegedly forged documents stating that
the rice shipments only weighed 900 tons. Therefore, the unpaid
tax was estimated at more than Rp 24 billion.

The five junior officers who had been arrested all claimed
that their bosses were also involved in the case, and now the AGO
intends to question the senior officials.

"We will only question them as witnesses for now. Later we
will name them suspects, but not now," Hendarman said.

Asked whether a former head of the intelligence division at
the customs and excise office was among the senior officials to
be questioned, Hendarman told journalists to wait for the
prosecutors to finish their investigations.

The case was first revealed after an anticorruption watchdog
reported two House of Representatives members, Setya Novanto and
Idrus Markham, to the AGO and the Corruption Eradication
Commission (KPK) in February. Both men are from Golkar Party.

However, the AGO has yet to charge the two legislators, who
allegedly signed the contracts for the rice imports. But Hexatama
director Gordanius Setyo Lelono, who is Novanto's brother, is a
suspect in the case. Novanto was also implicated in the high-
profile 1999 Bank Bali scandal, although a court later acquitted
the senior lawmaker.