Method Dadan Hindayana and Associates Allegedly Earned Billions Daily from MBG Kitchens Uncovered

The alleged corruption case dragging in the name of Dadan Hindayana has returned to the public spotlight after the Attorney General’s Office uncovered practices related to the management of the Nutrition Fulfilment Service Unit, known as the MBG kitchen. In the investigation of the case, suspicions have emerged of arrangements in the verification process of programme partners, which should have been conducted transparently. Investigators stated that a number of foundations involved in the MBG kitchen programme allegedly did not meet the requirements, yet were still able to pass as partners. This allegedly occurred due to connections with internal parties at the National Nutrition Agency at the time. This situation has led the public to question how the verification system could be penetrated by certain parties affiliated with related officials. Other names such as Sony Sanjaya and Lodewyk Pusung have also been implicated in the same case. The three are said to be connected in the management of foundations that allegedly profited from the programme. The Attorney General’s Office also assessed that there is a pattern pointing to an abuse of authority in the administrative and verification process. The Director of Investigation at the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, revealed that the MBG programme should have been managed by foundations directly affiliated with the beneficiary schools. In practice, however, many MBG kitchens were found not to meet the criteria but could still pass as official partners. ‘But they were still appointed by way of arranging verification on the BGN partner portal, with attention from the suspects,’ said Syarief. This statement strengthens the suspicion that there was intervention in the digital partner verification system used by the National Nutrition Agency whilst the programme was running. Furthermore, the Attorney General’s Office also uncovered alleged large-scale fund flows from the programme. Foundations affiliated with the suspects reportedly received incentives in very large amounts every day. ‘The foundation received incentives worth billions of rupiah every day, and the foundation is affiliated with, among others, those owned by Mr DH, Mr SS, and Mr LP,’ Syarief explained.