Inkud director questioned over smuggled sugar
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta
The director of the Jakarta Association of Village Cooperatives (Inkud), Abdul Waris, was questioned on Monday in connection with the discovery of smuggled sugar in several warehouses at Tanjung Priok, Jakarta, and in Bekasi and Bogor, West Java.
The National Police's director of economic crimes, Brig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko, said another witness in the case, PT Phoenix Commodities Indonesia director Radja Benarji, failed to show up at police headquarters for questioning on Monday.
"We were scheduled to question Radja first but he did not come this morning. His lawyer has promised that he will show up soon. We are now questioning Abdul," said Ismoko.
Abdul is being questioned as a witness.
The questioning of the Inkud director is the continuation of a probe into the case of 56,000 tons of smuggled sugar. Police questioned the director of state plantation company PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) X, Duduh Sadarachmat, as a witness in the case on Friday.
Ismoko said that if sufficient evidence was gathered, police would name Abdul, Duduh and Radja as suspects.
Police said suspects in the case would be charged under articles 102 and 103 of Law No. 10/1995 on smuggling, which carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison and a Rp 500 million (US$53,191) fine.
The lawyer for PT Phoenix, Elsa Syarif, said on Monday her client had imported the sugar at the order of PTPN X and Inkud. She underlined that her client did nothing illegal.
"My client made a business deal with Inkud, which has the authority to import sugar from PTPN X. PT Phoenix did not whether the license of PTPN X had expired because people from Inkud said that the license would be extended until May 31," Elsa said.
Inkud placed the order for the sugar one month before the import license expired on April 30. The sugar arrived at Jakarta's Tanjung Priok port last May.
Police said earlier the license of PTPN X to import sugar had expired on April 30 this year. PTPN IX, PTPN XI and PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia are the only state firms currently authorized to import sugar.
Elsa said it first had to be determined whether the importation date was the same as the shipment date from the Bangkok port where the sugar originated, or the time of arrival at the Indonesian port.
"My client shipped the sugar before April 30, although we admit that at least two ships arrived later than that date," she said.
She said the sugar could not have been smuggled because her client had all of the necessary documents for importing the sugar from Thailand.
"We simply demand that the goods be returned to Thailand if PTPN X has no right to import sugar anymore, because neither Inkud or PTPN X has paid my client yet," said Elsa.
She said her client shipped 88,000 tons of sugar to Indonesia as ordered by Inkud. Of that amount, 56,000 tons was found in Jakarta and West Java, and 16,000 tons were stocked at a warehouse in Makassar, South Sulawesi.
"We have no idea where the remaining 18,000 tons are. Nobody knows their whereabouts," the lawyer said.
Sugar smuggling has hurt thousands of sugarcane farmers across the country. Imported sugar is sold at Rp 2,100 per kilogram, lower than the market price of local sugar at between Rp 3,200 and Rp 3,500 a kilogram.
Indonesian sugar production stood at 1.8 million tons in 2002, while demand that year reached 3.2 million tons.