Lawyer Claims Sony Was Pressured by Big Names to Issue SPPG Site Permits

The lawyer for former Deputy Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), Sony Sonjaya, Krisna Murti, has claimed his client was pressured by big names in the corruption case concerning the management of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme. Krisna stated that his client was contacted by many figures within executive, legislative, and judicial circles regarding the MBG programme. He even mentioned that these 26 figures have already been disclosed by Sony to investigators from the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes. “Executive, legislative and judiciary. Those people (the 26 names allegedly involved) all come from there,” he told journalists on Wednesday. He asserted that all communication evidence is clearly recorded on Sony’s mobile phone, which has currently been seized by investigators. Therefore, Krisna urged that the evidence of these conversations be made public. “All the evidence is in there, all the chat evidence is on the phone currently seized by investigators. For example, Person A communicating with my client, Person B as well, all of them. So all that evidence is on my client’s phone and it must be opened,” he said. During the process, Krisna mentioned that Sony experienced pressure, either directly or due to the stature of the person contacting him. He claimed that it was because of these factors his client was forced to grant permits for the opening of Nutritional Fulfilment Service Units (SPPG). “Even if they did not use pressure, pressure could still occur. But consider there was no direct pressure, the influence itself, the mobilization of influence,” he explained. “Mr Sony knows who this person is. This means that simply the influence being mobilized, Mr Sony already knew who this person was. The criminal element is already met,” he added. Previously, former Deputy Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) Sony Sonjaya officially applied to be a Justice Collaborator in the corruption case concerning the management of the Free Nutritious Meal programme. Krisna stated that the justice collaborator application was made by his client not to avoid the ongoing legal process. He claimed that through this application, his client will be cooperative and reveal other parties involved in the case. The Attorney General’s Office has named former Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) Dadan Hindayana, along with former Deputy Heads of BGN Sony Sonjaya and Lodewyk Pusung, as suspects in the corruption case regarding the management of the MBG programme. In this case, the Director of Investigations at the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, explained that the MBG programme should have been managed by foundations affiliated with recipient schools. However, in its implementation, many SPPGs were appointed because they had affiliations with BGN officials. Syarief noted that these foundations essentially also did not meet the requirements to become SPPG partners. The three suspects, he said, also marked up prices during procurement, resulting in losses that did not support the operational implementation of the MBG. He detailed the non-compliant procurement, which included 21,801 units of electric motorbikes valued at IDR 1.03 trillion, 32,000 pairs of shoes, 31,994 tablet units, and 5,400 units of 75-inch televisions.