TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsEx-minister Thomas Lembong gets 4.5 years in prison in sugar import graft case
Judges with the Jakarta Corruption Court found former trade minister Thomas Lembong guilty of violating regulations by authorizing raw sugar imports that involved several private companies between 2015 and 2016.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
A guard puts a handcuff on former trade minister and graft convict Thomas Lembong (second left), who is accompanied by former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan (third left) after the verdict hearing against him at the Jakarta Corruption Court in Jakarta on July 18. A panel of judges sentence Lembong to four-and-a-half years in prison and a Rp 750 million (US$45,871) fine after finding him guilty in a corruption case pertaining to the import of raw sugar. (Antara/Bayu Pratama S.)
T
he Jakarta Corruption Court found former trade minister Thomas Lembong guilty of corruption over a sugar import policy he issued between 2015 and 2016 during his ministerial tenure under then-president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
“The court hereby sentences the defendant to four years and six months in prison,” presiding judge Dennie Arsan Fatrika said, reading the verdict during a hearing on Friday, greeted by roars of dissent from Thomas’ supporters attending the proceeding.
He added that the total sentence would be reduced by the eight months Thomas has already spent in detention since he was arrested last October.
The bench also ordered Thomas to pay a Rp 750 million (US$45,871) fine or serve an additional six months in prison by default.
The prison sentence was lower than the one demanded by Attorney General’s Office (AGO) prosecutors of seven years behind bars. But the judges granted the same amount of fines previously asked by the prosecutor team.
Dennie said that Thomas had “knowingly violated regulations” by authorizing raw sugar imports through state-owned trading firm PT Perdagangan Indonesia (PPI) in collaboration with several private sugar refineries, despite existing rules mandating that such imports must be carried out by state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
