Tom Lembong Reveals 21 Sugar Import Permits 2015-2016 According to Presidential Instructions

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Former Minister of Trade Thomas Trikasih Lembong, or Tom Lembong, revealed that 21 import approval letters were issued with the consideration of fulfilling national stock needs. Import permits were also granted to private companies to mitigate high food prices, including sugar, in accordance with the directives of Joko Widodo, the President of the Republic of Indonesia at that time.

Nevertheless, Tom Lembong admitted that he was not involved in the appointment of 21 private companies for sugar imports. These private companies were directly appointed by PT Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia (PT PPI) without any discussion with him.

This was conveyed by Tom Lembong during the trial agenda for the examination of the defendants in the corruption case of sugar imports at the Ministry of Trade for the years 2015-2016 at the Jakarta Corruption Court, Tuesday (1/7/2025). The trial was presided over by Chief Judge Dennie Arsan Fatrika, accompanied by two panel judges, Purwanto S Abdullah and Alfis Setiawan.

"To establish a national sugar stock as well as sugar stocks at various regional levels in order to achieve the policy objectives directed by the President to stabilize, and as far as possible mitigate the prices of food commodities, including in accordance with the regulations issued, the price of sugar as soon as possible," said Tom Lembong when asked by the public prosecutor about the actual objectives that Tom Lembong aimed to achieve by issuing 21 Import Approval Letters for Raw Crystal Sugar (GKM).

"Was the issuance of the 21 import permits discussed beforehand in the coordination meeting? Was it discussed in relation to the quota that was subsequently granted to the party that would receive the import approval?" the prosecutor asked again.

Tom Lembong stated that the letter of approval has gone through a cross-ministerial coordination meeting. According to him, there have been various meetings held and attended by several Ministries in the Economic Sector.

The private companies that received the import approval letters are the President Director of PT Angels Product, Tony Wijaya; the Director of PT Makassar Tene, Then Surianto Eka Prasetyo; the Director of PT Permata Dunia Sukses Utama, Eka Sapanca; the Director of PT Duta Sugar International, Hendrogiarto Antonio Tiwon; and the President Director of PT Berkah Manis Makmur, Hans Falita Hutama.

Subsequently, the President Director of PT Kebun Tebu Mas (KTM) Ali Sandjaja Boedidarmo, the President Director of PT Andalan Furnindo (AF) Wisnu Hendraningrat, the President Director of PT Sentra Usahatama Jaya (SUJ) Hansen Setiawan, and the President Director of PT Medan Sugar Industry (MSI) Indra Suryaningrat, along with Ramakrishna Prasad Venkatesha Murthy as the President Director of PT Dharmapala.

The nine executives of the private company also became defendants in the sugar importation case. The trial for the nine defendants from the private sector is still ongoing at the Jakarta Corruption Court.

Tom Lembong also explained the national conditions and realities at that time, which had already moved past the sugarcane milling season, resulting in no domestic sugar production. The reality of the state-owned sugar industry still relies on machinery inherited from the Dutch, which requires fuel from the byproducts of farmers' sugarcane. Meanwhile, during that period, the milling season had already passed, leading to many state-owned sugar factories ceasing operations.

"Secondly, I will certainly follow up on the proposal from the Minister of Agriculture and also from the Deputy Coordinating Minister for Food to ensure that, as much as possible, what is imported is raw sugar rather than white sugar," said Tom Lembong.

Tom Lembong explained that the import of raw sugar will provide greater added value for the domestic industry compared to the import of white sugar.

Nevertheless, Tom stated that he was not involved in the appointment of private companies for sugar imports. The private companies were directly appointed by PT Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia (PT PPI) without any discussion with him.

"That is entirely the authority of PT PPI," said Tom.

Not only that, Tom also admitted to granting approval for the extension of market operations to several cooperatives from the TNI-Polri, one of which was for the Kartika Cooperative on August 26, 2015. Tom reasoned that he was merely continuing the policy set by the previous Minister of Trade, Rahmat Gobel. His approval for the extension of market operations was also based on input from his subordinates.

Moreover, at that time he had only been in office as Minister of Trade for 14 days, so the documents that needed to be signed by a minister were typically drafted by structural officials in the relevant sector.

"So at that time, I certainly signed the letter based on the suggestions and input from my subordinates who were handling the related matters," said Tom Lembong.

During his examination as the defendant, Tom also brought samples of refined sugar, white crystal sugar (GKP), and crystal menthol sugar (GKM) and explained the differences among the three. He presented these three sugar samples through his legal counsel, which were shown to the panel of judges and the public prosecutor.

Tom's aim in presenting the three examples of sugar was to refute the statement made by the public prosecutor (JPU) who had previously claimed that refined sugar, a product from the company designated to carry out sugar imports by Tom Lembong, is very dangerous if consumed by the public. At that moment, Tom personally tasted the refined sugar that was brought.

"We'll see if by the end of today or this week I have health problems from consuming refined sugar," Tom said.

On that occasion, Tom Lembong explained that GKP has a higher ICUMSA (International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis) level than refined sugar, but is dirtier.

It is known that ICUMSA is used as an international standard for measuring and comparing the color of sugar, particularly refined crystal sugar. The lower the ICUMSA number, the whiter and the higher the purity of the sugar.

"Then this is what we know as refined sugar, very white. Its ICUMSA is lower than that of our consumption sugar," he said while showing a sample of refined sugar during the trial.

In addition, Tom Lembong also presented samples of GKM that are recommended not to be consumed by the public as they are raw materials for industry that have not been purified.

According to Tom, GKM is very easily distinguished by customs officers at the port during import activities, making it impossible to misdeclare the type of imported sugar.

In this case, Tom Lembong is accused of enriching others, resulting in state losses amounting to Rp 515.4 billion. In his explanation, the public prosecutor stated that Tom issued import approval letters for raw crystal sugar for the period of 2015-2016 to parties from 10 private companies.

There are 10 individuals who are alleged to have benefited from the corruption case involving sugar imports. They include Tonny Wijaya as the President Director of PT Angels Product (Rp 144.1 billion), Wisnu Hendraningrat as the President Director of PT Andalan Furnindo (Rp 41.8 billion), Hansen Setiawan as the President Director of PT Sentra Usahatama Jaya (Rp 36.8 billion), and Indra Suryaningrat as the President Director of PT Medan Sugar Industry (Rp 64.5 billion).

Next, Then Surianto Eka Prasetyo as the Director of PT Makassar Tene (Rp 31.1 billion), Hendrogianto Antonio Tiwon as the Director of PT Duta Sugar International (Rp 41.2 billion), Ali Sanjaya B as the President Director of PT Kebun Tebu Mas (Rp 47.8 billion), Hans Falita Hutama as the President Director of PT Berkah Manis Makmur (Rp 74.5 billion), Eka Sapanca as the Director of PT Permata Dunia Sukses Utama (Rp 26.1 billion), and Ramakrishna Prasad Venkatesha Murthy through PT Dharmapala Usaha Sukses (Rp 5.9 billion).