Three suspects of sugar scam banned from travel
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta
A travel ban was imposed on three suspects in the illegal sugar scandal to prevent them from leaving the country.
National Police director for economic crimes Brig. General Samuel Ismoko said on Thursday that he had asked the immigration office to subject Abdul Waris Halid of the Confederation of Primary Cooperatives Association (Inkud), Jack Tanim and Andi Badar Saleh to a travel ban.
"We have detained Abdul Waris Halid, while the two others are still at large. We have summoned them but they failed to come to the headquarters, forcing us to impose the travel ban," said Ismoko.
Inkud and a consortium under Inkud are accused of importing 56,000 tons of sugar from Thailand after their import permit expired on April 30, while the three tax and excise office staff are accused of collaborating with Inkud and the consortium to unload the sugar at the Jakarta's Tanjung Priok Port.
Police have named eight suspects in the case. They are Abdul Waris, Jack Tanim, Andi Badar Saleh, Effendy Kemek, and Phoenix Commodities Indonesia president director Raja Bernaje, who is currently in Thailand.
The other three are Wahyono, the head of the service division at Tanjung Priok customs and excise office, Yan Miral, the head of Tanjung Priok I investigation section and Muhammad Zein, the head of Tanjung Priok I intelligence sub-unit.
National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung Sudjono previously said that they had all been declared suspects because they were responsible for the entry of the illegal sugar. Several of them were charged with falsifying import documents.
Police interrogated on Thursday Inkud director Khairudin while indicating that they may also question Inkud chairman Nurdin Halid, who is also chairman of the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI).
Police deputy chief of detectives Insp. Gen. Dadang Garnida said that they questioned Khairudin as a witness because as Inkud director he should know of mayor transactions made by the association.
"We interrogate people from the lower ranks to the highest. We have questioned and detained Inkud's Abdul Waris. Now, we are questioning Khairudin and later, we may also question Nurdin Halid," said Dadang.
He said that the interrogation of Khairudin could enable police to clarify the role of each suspect in the scandal, and whether it was necessary to name him as a suspect.
Dadang explained that during the interrogation of the two suspects Abdul Waris Halid, head of Inkud's general trade division and Effendy Kemek, an employee of one of the five companies in the consortium headed by Inkud, the police found out that both had used the fake documents to ship and store the imported sugar.
"However, Abdul Waris Halid denied falsifying the documents. He said that it was Effendy who did it. We are now investigating who is behind Effendy," said Dadang.
Police announced previously they had confiscated a total of 65,000 tons of the smuggled sugar from warehouses in Jakarta, Bekasi, Bogor and in Makassar, South Sulawesi. Their calculation now indicates they have seized 73,000 tons.
The illegal sugar has caused the price of Indonesian sugar to fall under its production cost to between Rp 3,200 (34 U.S. cents) and Rp 3,300, causing big losses to local producers.