Grilled for 9 hours, Nurdin Halid declared suspect in sugar scam
Grilled for 9 hours, Nurdin Halid declared suspect in sugar scam
P.C. Naommy, Jakarta
Confederation of Primary Cooperative Associations (Inkud)
chairman Nurdin Halid was declared a suspect in an illegal sugar
scam after almost 10 hours of questioning on Friday.
National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung
Sudjono said that as chairman of Inkud, Nurdin knew about the
smuggling of 73,000 tons of sugar from Thailand by a consortium
involving Inkud.
"As Inkud chairman, it's impossible that he knew nothing about
an agreement made between the confederation and PT Phoenix on
sugar importation," said Suyitno, adding that the police had
issued a detention order for him on Friday night.
Inkud has been accused of illegally importing 73,000 tons of
sugar from Thailand that arrived here after the expiry of the
April deadline stipulated in its import license, while PT Phoenix
Commodities Indonesia served as the exporter of the sugar from
Thailand.
Aside from Nurdin, police have named eight other suspects in
the case. They are Nurdin's younger brother Abdul Waris Halid,
and Effendy Kemek, Jack Tamin and Andi Badar Saleh -- all from
the consortium -- Raja Bernaje, the president director of PT
Phoenix, and three customs and excuse officers, Wahyono, Yan
Miral and Muhammad Zein.
A team of physicians from police headquarters examined Nurdin
on Friday night, a procedural step required before a suspect is
detained.
Inkud had previously claimed that it had a license to import
sugar on behalf of PTPN X, which holds a license from the
government to import some 108,000 tons of sugar.
Inkud then formed a consortium to handle the purchases and
made a deal with PT Phoenix Commodities Indonesia, which shipped
the sugar from Thailand.
Director General of Customs and Excise Eddy Abdurrachman said
that his office had discovered that the bills of lading used by
PT Phoenix to apply for warehousing were fake.
The fake bills stated that all of the sugar was shipped on
April 30, while the genuine documents said that the sugar was
shipped in May.
The sugar scam emerged after the Association of Indonesian
Sugarcane Farmers (APTRI) discovered 56,000 tons of allegedly
smuggled sugar in warehouses in Jakarta, Bekasi and Bogor.
The police later announced that they had seized a total of
73,000 tons of smuggled sugar from a number of different places,
including from warehouses in Jakarta, Bekasi and Bogor, as well
as in Makassar, South sulawesi.
The police had focused on identifying who held the key
position of authority and responsibility on the Inkud management
board in connection with the sugar importation agreement between
the confederation and PTPN X.
Nurdin, who is also a member of the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR), had previously said he knew nothing about the
irregularities that emerged concerning the importation of the
sugar.
He had previously failed to respond to a first police summons
for questioning on Monday, claiming he was busy with official
duties.
Nurdin was previously prosecuted in connection with the
misappropriation of Rp 91 billion belonging to clove farmers in
North Sulawesi between 1991 to 1996. However, the court later
cleared him of all charges.