Elza Syarief Claims She Was Deceived, Fellow Lawyer Sony Sonjaya: I Am Confused by Mrs Elza's Statements

Jakarta – The controversy within the legal team of Sony Sonjaya, a suspect in an alleged corruption case concerning the management of the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme at BGN for 2025–2026, is intensifying. After advocate Elza Syarief announced her withdrawal from the defence team, Sony’s other lawyer, Krisna Murti, admitted he was surprised and did not understand the reasons behind the decision. Krisna said he only learnt of Elza’s resignation after Sony’s family revoked the power of attorney previously granted to the senior advocate. “I don’t know, the family has revoked her power of attorney, so why, I really don’t know,” he said on Wednesday, 17 June 2026. According to Krisna, from the outset all lawyers in Sony’s legal team were granted power of attorney to jointly assist and defend the former Deputy Head of BGN in the ongoing legal process. He therefore expressed regret over Elza’s decision to withdraw midway through the case handling. “So, each was given power of attorney. Well, she resigned and I very much regret why she resigned,” he said. Krisna also denied there had been intensive coordination between himself and Elza’s team during the legal assistance process. He even admitted that direct meetings with Sony had been very limited so far. According to him, since receiving the power of attorney, he had only met Sony once, and for a relatively short duration. “As far as I know, I’ve only met Mr Sony once, and that was only for two hours. Just once. And that was at most two hours. Beyond that, there might have been another meeting, as far as I know,” he stated. Furthermore, Krisna admitted he did not understand a number of statements Elza made to the public after deciding to withdraw from the legal team. He stressed that, based on the information he knew, Sony had provided open testimony to investigators in the official examination report (BAP). “As far as I know, Mr Sony has disclosed everything in the BAP. I don’t understand where Mrs Elza is heading. I am also confused by Mrs Elza’s statements, I am confused as a result,” he said.