Three suspects of sugar scam banned from travel

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.