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.