Dadan Hindayana Detained at Salemba Detention Centre After Named Corruption Suspect
The Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung) of the Republic of Indonesia has officially named the former Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), Dadan Hindayana, as a corruption suspect. In addition to Dadan, the Attorney General’s Office also named two former Deputy Heads of the BGN, Sony Sonjaya and Lodewyk Pusung, as suspects. All three have been detained at the Salemba Detention Centre for investigation purposes.
The designation of suspects was carried out by investigators from the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes following the interrogation of Dadan on Wednesday (3/6). Dadan, Sony, and Lodewyk were seen wearing the pink vests signifying detention by the Attorney General’s Office and were escorted in handcuffs to the detention centre. The group was led out of the Attorney General’s Office building separately by officers starting around 5:10 PM WIB.
“The detention is being carried out at the Salemba Detention Centre, the branch of the Attorney General’s Office and the South Jakarta District Attorney’s Office,” stated Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, Director of Investigation for the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes, during a press conference in Jakarta on Wednesday evening.
Syarief explained that Dadan, Sony, and Lodewyk were named suspects after being interrogated as witnesses. “The Jampidsus team has examined three witnesses, including Mr DH as the Head of BGN, Mr SS as the Deputy Head of BGN for Operations, and Mr LP as the Deputy Head of BGN for Organisational Development. After a series of examinations of DH, SS, and LP, and based on two sufficient pieces of evidence, investigators have named DH, SS, and LP as suspects,” he added.
Previously, the Acting Head of the Attorney General’s Office Legal Information Centre, Mohammad Jeffry, confirmed that investigators from the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes conducted a search at the BGN office.
Prior to these legal developments, Dadan, Sony, and Lodewyk had been dismissed from their positions at the BGN by President Prabowo Subianto. The dismissal was announced by the Minister of State Secretary, Prasetyo Hadi, on Tuesday (2/6) evening. Prasetyo stated that the removal was due to disciplinary violations regarding the governance of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme. To replace Dadan, President Prabowo appointed the former Deputy Head of BGN, Nanik S. Deyang, as the new Head of the National Nutrition Agency. For the deputy positions, the President appointed Agustina Arum Sari and Major General TNI Trenggono.