State Loss Figures in Free Nutritious Meal Corruption Case Still Being Calculated by Attorney General's Office
The investigative team of the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) at the Attorney General’s Office is continuing to calculate the total state financial losses in the alleged corruption case involving the management of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme. This case implicates the former Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), Dadan Hindayana, and two of his deputies.
Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, Director of Investigation at Jampidsus, stated that the office is not yet able to announce the exact figure for the state losses, as the audit and tracking process is still ongoing. “The calculation is still in progress. Therefore, we cannot yet convey the exact total. We are continuing our work,” Syarief said during a press conference at the Attorney General’s Office building in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The Attorney General’s Office has officially named the former Head of the National Nutrition Agency, Dadan Hindayana (DH), as a suspect in the alleged corruption regarding the management of the MBG programme for the 2025–2026 fiscal year. Alongside Dadan, investigators have also named two former Deputy Heads of the BGN as suspects: Sonny Sonjaya (SS), former Deputy Head of Nutritional Fulfilment Operations, and Lodewyk Pusung (LP), former Deputy Head of Organisational Development and Institutional Relations. All three have been placed in detention.
Syarief explained that the MBG programme is a national priority programme that has been running since 6 January 202<0xA0>5, with budget allocations from the State Budget (APBN) amounting to Rp85.27 trillion in 2025, expected to surge to Rp268 trillion in 2026. While the management of MBG funds should have been entrusted to foundations in every school, the suspects allegedly manipulated the verification of BGN partners to ensure projects were awarded to unqualified foundations affiliated with the suspects.
“The appointed foundations were used as vehicles for crime and are affiliated with officials or employees of the BGN. These foundations receive billions of rupiah in incentives every day, and some are owned by relatives of DH, SS, and LP,” Syarief revealed.
In addition to manipulating foundation partnerships, the three former BGN leaders are also accused of price inflation (markup) in the procurement of goods and services. Jampidsus investigators detailed four instances of fictitious or marked-up procurements, including the procurement of 21,801 electric motorcycles with a total budget of approximately Rp1 trillion, 32,000 pairs of shoes that did not meet specifications, over 31,000 tablets that violated regulations, and 5,400 units of 75-inch televisions that were unnecessary and overpriced.
“These procurements do not support the field operations of the Free Nutritious Meal programme and have clearly resulted in losses to state finances,” the Director of Investigation emphasised.
As a result of their actions, Dadan Hindayana, Sonny Sonjaya, and Lodewyk Pusung are suspected of violating Articles 603 and 604 in conjunction with Article 20 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Corruption Crimes, in conjunction with Law Number 1 of 2023 regarding the Criminal Code (KUHP). To assist the investigation and prevent the suspects from fleeing or destroying evidence, the Attorney General’s Office has ordered detention for the next 20 days at the Salemba Detention Centre.