Raffi Ahmad Clarifies Encounter with Blueray Cargo Following Court Mention

Presidential Special Envoy for Youth Generation Development and Arts Workers, Raffi Farid Ahmad, has disclosed the origins of his encounter with the company Blueray Cargo, which ultimately led to his name being mentioned in a trial for an alleged corruption case within the Directorate General of Customs and Excise at the Ministry of Finance. “At that time, it is true, I went abroad. I ran a marathon with Ariel, Gading, and Desta. Gading and Desta were out of breath and did not join the marathon. It was Ariel and I who ran the marathon in Chicago, United States,” Raffi stated during a press conference in Jakarta on Thursday. Raffi mentioned he also brought his wife, Nagita Slavina, on the visit to the United States in October 2025. “After finishing in Chicago, as there was still free time, I also went to New York for a short while. In New York, I promoted friends who have businesses there. There is one called Awang Kitchen, Indo Java,” he said. He recounted eating at Awang Kitchen, which was adjacent to the Blueray Cargo office. “In the shop next door, there was one called Blueray. They called me, ‘Mas Raffi, Mas Ariel, Mas Gading, let’s take a photo with me’. So we took a photo in front of the shop,” he added. At that moment, he said, a Blueray Cargo employee explained that the company could send any goods from America to Indonesia. According to him, the employee tried to offer Blueray Cargo’s services, but he could not refuse outright. “It’s impossible for me to say, ‘oh no, I don’t want to ship through you’, it’s impossible for me to say. In a crowd, I said, ‘oh yes, yes, yes, okay later if there is a new mobile phone, I’ll send it later’. It was limited to that. Essentially, I was just making small talk,” he stated. After that, he claimed there was no communication with anyone from Blueray Cargo. “I do not have their phone number, have never received any shipment, I don’t even remember their name, nor did I place an order, I mean, no transaction occurred at all. It was purely small talk,” he stressed. On the same occasion, Raffi’s lawyer, Hotman Paris, assessed that his client’s name was raised by Blueray to convince goods import processing companies. “Perhaps there was internal chat between them here and the service bureau to convince the bureau handling imports, ‘hey, there will be an order from Raffi there’. That person in Indonesia is named Yohanes. That is what caused the commotion. He spoke, and perhaps because his chat was uncovered by investigators, that was questioned in the trial, and it was asked plainly,” Hotman said. Besides Raffi and Hotman, celebrity Gading Marten also provided information regarding the activities in the United States last year. “We ate Indonesian food at Awang Kitchen, then to Indo Java, there were people from next door asking for a photo. How could we refuse when fellow Indonesians asked for a photo? Yes, of course we made small talk and all sorts. We ourselves only just learned the name Blueray now,” Gading said. Previously, on 4 February 2026, the KPK conducted a sting operation within the Directorate General of Customs and Excise at the Ministry of Finance. On 5 June 2026, Raffi Ahmad’s name emerged in the trial in connection with his visit to the Blueray Cargo office in the United States. The KPK on 8 June 2026 confirmed that Raffi Ahmad’s name had appeared in the investigation of the case, particularly regarding his activities visiting the Blueray Cargo office to deposit or ship several electronic goods to Indonesia. “Correct, there is a fact that Mr RA (Raffi Ahmad) deposited items,” stated Acting Director of Investigations at the KPK, Achmad Taufik Husein, at the KPK’s Merah Putih Building, Jakarta, on Monday (8/6). Nevertheless, he acknowledged that the KPK has not developed this aspect further in the customs investigation. “Yesterday we did not develop it too far because it had not yet reached facts that strengthen the notion that it was part of Blueray’s actions in handling immigration matters at the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, which is why we did not issue a summons,” he said.