Police: Corruption in Sugar Factory Project Causes Rp645 Billion in State Losses

The Corruption Eradication Corps (Kortas Tipikor) of the Indonesian National Police has revealed that state losses arising from alleged corruption in the revitalisation and modernisation project of the Asembagoes Sugar Factory, Situbondo, have reached Rp645 billion.

“In this alleged act of corruption, state financial losses have occurred based on audit results from the Audit Board of Indonesia (BPK RI), amounting to approximately more than Rp645 billion,” stated the Head of the National Police Corruption Eradication Corps Investigation Team, Commissioner Gunawan, in East Jakarta on Tuesday (9/6).

Gunawan made these remarks to journalists following a search conducted at the office of a state-owned construction enterprise located on Jalan DI Panjaitan, East Jakarta. During the search, investigators seized various pieces of evidence, including documents in both soft and hard copy formats, as well as electronic evidence in the form of emails.

The National Police Corruption Eradication investigators also searched three other locations related to the investigation of the alleged corruption in the EPCC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Commissioning) of the Asembagoes Sugar Factory. These locations included the residence of the President Director of PT Multinas Indonesia, Tjahjadi Dajadibrata, in the Galaxy Bumi Permai area of Surabaya; the office of PT Multinas Tjahja Sejahtera in the Klampis Megah shop-house area, Surabaya; and the office of PT Barata Indonesia on Jalan Veteran, Gresik, East Java.

“This activity is part of our efforts to collect additional evidence. We will later analyse and deepen our investigation of these pieces of evidence to strengthen the proof in the investigation process we are conducting,” he said.

The development and modernisation project for the Asembagoes Sugar Factory in Situbondo, East Java, was carried out from 2016 to 2022. The project, which is part of a strategic programme for State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN), received funding from State Capital Injection (PMN) amounting to Rp650 billion, along with additional loans exceeding Rp462 billion.

However, the project failed to meet several key targets, such as milling capacity, product quality, and electricity production for export. As of now, the National Police Corruption Eradication investigators are still conducting a deep dive into the case and have not yet named any suspects.