April 30, 2025 | 07:36 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Former Indonesian Trade Minister Thomas Trikasih Lembong or Tom Lembong refuted the allegations made by the public prosecutor at the Attorney General's Office that the sugar import policy during the sugarcane milling season violated the regulations stipulated in the Minister of Industry and Trade Regulation No. 527 of 2004.
"So I only need to refute the implications or indications from the public prosecutor," said Tom Lembong at the Corruption Court (Tipikor) of the Central Jakarta District Court on Monday night, April 28, 2025.
Tom explained that in fact, Minister of Industry and Trade Regulation No. 527 of 2004 was no longer valid when the sugar import policy was implemented in 2016 during the sugarcane milling season. Therefore, he stated that the sugar import policy at that time did not violate the regulations.
The reason is that the ministerial regulation had been revoked in December 2015 and replaced by Minister of Trade Regulation or Permendag No. 117 of 2015, which regulated sugar imports from 2016 onwards.
Tom also mentioned that Permendag No. 117 did not regulate sugar imports during the sugarcane milling season at all.
Previously, the public prosecutor at the Attorney General's Office indicted Tom Lembong, who served as the Trade Minister from 2015 to 2016, for issuing 21 approvals for the import of raw crystal sugar (GKM) to 10 aforementioned businessmen in the context of forming sugar stock and stabilizing sugar prices. The prosecutor argued that the issuance of import approvals was not accompanied by recommendations from the Ministry of Industry.
Tom Lembong was charged with violating Article 2 paragraph (1) or Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of the Law on Eradication of Corruption Crimes in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) point 1 of the Criminal Code.
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