Police declare 65,000 tons of PTPN X's sugar illegal
Abdul Khalik Jakarta
At least 65,000 tons of imported sugar owned by state plantation firm PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) X was declared illegal on Tuesday, paving the way for prosecution of those involved in case.
National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung Sudjono said that according to ministerial decree No. 643, PTPN's license to import sugar had expired on April 30.
"Any sugar that arrived after that date is illegal because the import transaction was no longer valid. The amount of sugar deemed illegal reaches 65,OOO tons as of now because we have found more at another port," said Suyitno.
PTPN was given a license to import up to 108,000 tons of sugar by April 30. Some 34,000 tons arrived before April 30, while 65,000 more arrived in early May.
Suyitno said that police had confiscated all of the illegal sugar.
He said police could possibly declare officials from the Association of Village Cooperatives (Inkud) and PTPN X as well as people from PT Phoenix as suspects because it seemed clear now that the three groups had imported the sugar illegally.
He said that suspects in the case could 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 police have questioned earlier director of PTPN X Duduh Sadarachnmat and general trading manager of Inkud Abdul Waris Halid as witnesses in the case. They are scheduled to question president director of PT Phoenix Radja Benarji soon. None of them have been declared suspects.
The case became headlines news nationwide when a sugarcane farmer's association discovered 56,000 tons of sugar in several warehouses at Tanjung Priok in Jakarta, Bekasi and Bogor.
Suyitno said that the sugar could not be returned to Thailand as demanded by PT Phoenix because the company itself previously asked that the sugar to be placed at the port warehouse.
He denied a claim by PT Phoenix that some 18,000 tons of the total amount of sugar had disappeared during the investigation process.
"They can claim that the sugar is lost, but we have found all the sugar in the warehouse. They themselves have to be responsible if some sugar were to disappear," said Suyitno.
Lawyer of Inkud Edison Betaubun claimed that all of the sugar was legal because it was shipped from Bangkok, Thailand before April 30.
"According to Article 10 of Ministerial Decree No. 643, the time of shipment was to be decided by another decree from Director General of International Trade. This latter decree stipulates that the shipment had to be done before April 30. PT Phoenix shipped the sugar before that date," said Edison.
Chairman of the Indonesian Employer's Association (APINDO) Sofjan Wanandi criticized the lack of clarity of the ministerial decree on sugar as the reason why smuggling could not be eradicated.
"We don't know for sure whether this sugar is a smuggled commodity or not because the regulation doesn't decide whether the shipment date or the arrival date is considered as the time of import," he said.
Sofjan said that the smugglers could use this loophole in the regulation to avoid legal charges. The minister must decide clearly when importation would be considered smuggling, he proposed.