Suspect named in sugar scandal
Suspect named in sugar scandal
Abdul Khalik and Zakki P. Hakim, Jakarta
An employee of a consortium that imported sugar from Thailand,
Effendy Kemek, was declared a suspect on Friday in the scandal
over 56,000 tons of illegal sugar, following his confession that
he faked documents to place the commodity in a port warehouse.
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said that Effendy was
an employee of one of the partner companies in the consortium
formed by the Association of Village Cooperatives (Inkud) to
import sugar from Thailand on behalf of Inkud.
"He is an operational-level employee who takes care of
documents in the port. We are now investigating who ordered him
to falsify the documents because it is impossible that he would
have done this on his own initiative," said Da'i.
Director of the National Police financial crimes division
Brig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko said Inkud received the license from
PTPN X and formed a consortium comprising five partner companies
to handle the importation. This consortium then made a business
deal with PT Phoenix, he said.
The consortium members were PT Kencana Gula Manis, CV Surya
Hendra Utama, PT Megaraya Sejahtera, PT Iroda Mas and UD Gunung
Sewu. Da'i did not say which company employed Effendy.
Director General of Customs and Excise Eddy Abdurrachman had
said that documents used by PT Phoenix to ship much of the sugar
were fake.
He said that his office had found out that the bills of lading
used to apply for eigenlossing (warehousing) were fake after
comparing them with the genuine shipping documents in Bangkok.
Eddy added that the fake bills stated that all of the sugar
was shipped on April 30, while the genuine documents said that
the sugar was shipped in May. Inkud insisted that all of the
sugar was shipped before April 30, the expiry date for PT
Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) X to import sugar.
Da'i said police had been questioning Abdul Waris Halid, the
head of the general trade division of Inkud, since Thursday for
an explanation on the fake documents.
"We interrogate him for that long because Inkud is responsible
for all the operational aspects of the importation," said Da'i.
He added that police had put two consortium members on the
wanted list for defying a police summons. A police investigator
said that one of the fugitives was identified as Jack Tanim, the
consortium chairman.
He added that police would question every relevant individual
as witnesses, including a minister if necessary.
On the same day, Minister of Industry and Trade Rini MS
Soewandi said that she would be willing to become an expert
witness if the police required her assistance regarding the
smuggled sugar, and added that she was ready to be held
responsible if it was found she had been negligent in dealing
with the matter.
"I've told Da'i Bachtiar the police could summon me as an
expert witness anytime," she told a media conference.
She denied that she personally knew Inkud chairman Nurdin
Halid, let alone that she had had a meeting with him to discuss
sugar import licenses.
Rini said that it was all right for the five listed sugar
importers, PT Perkebunan (PTPN) IX, PTPN X, PTPN XI, PT Rajawali
Nusantara Indonesia (RNI) and PT Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia
(PPI), to work with other companies over fund bridging,
distribution or warehousing, but not to relinquish their
importation rights.
State-owned plantation firm PTPN X made an agreement on Feb.
16 with Inkud for the latter to import a total of 108,000 tons of
white sugar on behalf of PTPN X, according to a copy of the
agreement submitted to the House of Representatives.
A sugarcane farmer's association then discovered 56,000 tons
of sugar in warehouses in Tanjung Priok, Jakarta, and in Bekasi
and Bogor, that had arrival dates beyond the April 30 deadline.
Rini said that according to Ministerial Decree No. 643 (which
authorized PTPN X to import some 108,000 tons of sugar), the
commodity was not permitted to arrive in the country after April
30. That meant that sugar arriving after that date was
unauthorized, she said.