Sony Sonjaya Associate Named Suspect for Manipulating Free Nutritious Meal Programme Locations

Investigators from the Attorney General’s Office are continuing to unravel alleged corruption in the governance of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) Programme at the National Nutrition Agency (BGN). After ensnaring several high-ranking BGN officials, a private sector figure suspected of involvement in manipulating the project has now been named a suspect. The individual is Asep Yusuf Somantri. Investigators suspect he was not an ordinary player. As the case develops, Asep is said to have had close ties with the former Deputy Head of BGN, Sony Sonjaya, who was previously named a suspect. Director of Investigation at the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, stated that Asep’s suspect status was established on Saturday, 6 June 2026. ‘The investigation team has named one more suspect, AYS, from the private sector,’ he said on Thursday, 11 June 2026. From initial investigations, Asep allegedly received a special role in the MBG Programme partner recruitment process. This role was reportedly given directly by Sony Sonjaya when he was still serving as Deputy Head of BGN. Investigators suspect Asep had access to information regarding kitchen locations or Nutrition Service Fulfilment Unit (SPPG) points that were still vacant. This access was then allegedly used to manipulate the selection process for prospective partners registering for the MBG programme. ‘Thus allowing him to know which kitchen points were empty, and to engineer the situation so that prospective SPPGs that had registered on the MBG partner portal, whose registrations had initially been approved, would subsequently have their statuses cancelled,’ he stated. The Attorney General’s Office suspects this practice opened opportunities for certain parties to gain benefits in determining MBG partners. After the conditioning was carried out, Asep allegedly gave a sum of money to Sony Sonjaya. While not yet disclosing the amount involved, investigators believe there is a close link between the payment and the manipulation of SPPG points under investigation. For his actions, Asep is now officially a suspect and has been placed in a detention centre for investigation purposes. His naming brings the total number of suspects in the MBG corruption case to four. ‘The suspect is alleged to have violated Article 12 letter a and letter b of the Corruption Eradication Law, as well as Article 605 Paragraph 2 and Article 606 of the Criminal Code. The suspect is currently being detained for the next 20 days at the Salemba Detention Centre, South Jakarta District Prosecutor’s Office branch,’ he said.