Police name suspect in sugar scandal

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta

Police named on Monday Abdul Waris Halid, head of general trade at the Confederation of Primary Cooperatives Association (Inkud), a suspect in the smuggling of 56,000 tons of Thai sugar.

"He is responsible for the illegal sugar because he made an agreement with PT Phoenix as if on behalf of PTPN X. The police are still questioning him. We will decide later if it is necessary to detain him," National Police Chief of Detectives Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung Sudjono said, referring to one of five registered sugar importers.

The police's decision came after questioning Abdul on three separate occasions.

The police had also named Effedy Kemek, an employee of a consortium member, a suspect, and placed two others on their interrogation list.

Suyitno said the police were still trying to locate the whereabouts of the two to help shed light on the case.

Abdul's lawyer Eggi Sudjana defended his client, saying that Inkud was not involved in the documentation and storage process because the five members of the consortium involved had taken care of operational matters for importing the sugar.

He identified the members of the consortium as: PT Kencana Gula Manis, CV Surya Hendra Utama, PT Megaraya Sejahtera, PT Iroda Mas and UD Gunung Sewu.

"The consortium was formed on the advice of the minister of industry and trade herself through the director general of international trade Sudar SA. So, the consortium was legal," Eggi said.

He asserted that PT Phoenix probably had no knowledge of the consortium because it had dealt only with Inkud. Eggi added that the consortium was established upon a contract between Inkud and PTPN X, the state-owned company licensed to import sugar.

Eggi was responding to a claim by Elza Syarief, the lawyer of PT Phoenix, who said the company was unaware of the consortium because it had a business relationship with Inkud only.

In a press release, Elza said PT Phoenix did not tend to any customs and excise documents after the sugar entered Indonesia. She argued that her client was a victim in the import deal, because Inkud had not paid Phoenix for the sugar while the incident had given the company a bad image.

The police had said previously that fraudulent documents were used to store the sugar in several local warehouses, while Customs and Excise director general Eddy Abdurrachman had revealed that the shipping documents had also been falsified, making all the sugar illegal.

Eggi insisted, however, that the sugar was all legitimate because it was shipped before April 30, when PTPN X's import license expired.

He added that a meeting between Inkud chairman Nurdin Halid -- Abdul's elder brother -- and trade minister Rini M.S. Soewandi was witnessed by many people, including the ministry's Sudar, sugar businessman Supit and the drivers of Rini and Nurdin.

"The meeting took place at Rini's office to discuss how Inkud could obtain a license to import sugar. We have many witnesses... This is why we intend to sue Rini for denying that the meeting took place," said Eggi.

He said Nurdin would report Rini to the police on Tuesday for giving false information to the public. The law stipulated that she could face a five-year sentence if found guilty, Eggi said.

Last week, Rini denied that she had held a meeting with Nurdin, saying she did not know Nurdin personally nor did she meet with him to discuss a sugar import license.