Police declare 65,000 tons of PTPN X's sugar illegal

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import transaction was no longer valid.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.