Stories From Indonesia

Saut Situmorang saat dipeluk Anies Baswedan
, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tom Lembong Trial Postponed, Court Demands Key Audit Report, Kompas.com

…the struggles of residents who suffer from environmental degradation and lack of support…

Editor
7–10 minutes
, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tom Lembong Trial Postponed, Court Demands Key Audit Report

From Kompas.com June 2, 2025

Thomas Trikasih Lembong, former Minister of Trade of Indonesia, is currently ensnared in a legal battle over alleged corruption related to import licenses for raw sugar issued during his tenure as Indonesia’s Trade Minister from 2015 to 2016 in the first government of President Joko Widodo. The case has seen multiple developments recently, particularly in relation to the audit results from Indonesia’s National Audit Board (BPKP), which are central to the accusations against him.

On June 2, 2025, Lembong expressed anticipation over the upcoming court session where the BPKP’s audit report is to be discussed. He described the session as “super interesting,” emphasizing the importance of examining the calculations made by BPKP regarding the alleged theoretical government losses being attributed by the government to the sugar imports the licenses for which were issued during his tenure as Trade Minister.

National Audit Report

Lembong has been in custody for seven months, and he has criticized the delay in presenting the audit report, which he believes is crucial to his defense. The court has ordered the prosecution to provide the audit report to Lembong’s legal team by June 12, 2025, Kompas (2025a) reported on June 2.

The case against Lembong involves accusations he intentionally caused government losses amounting to approximately Rp 578 billion ($39 million). The prosecution alleges that Lembong improperly appointed cooperatives linked to the military and police to manage sugar prices, instead of state-owned enterprises, which they argue he intended to cause financial losses to the government (Kompas, 2025b).

Judge On Leave

In a related development, the court hearing scheduled for June 2 was postponed due to the absence of one of the judges, who was on leave. The presiding judge, Dennie Arsan Fatrika, noted that the court could not proceed without a complete bench. This hearing was initially set to include the examination of 20 witnesses, but the judge decided to reschedule the hearing to June 10, 2025, citing the need for all the parties to be able to participate effectively (Kompas, 2025c).

Lembong’s legal team has been proactive in pursuing access to the audit report, arguing that they need sufficient time to review its findings before the next court hearing. They have raised concerns about the methodology used by the government to calculate the alleged losses, suggesting that the BPKP’s approach may have misapplied certain legal frameworks regarding agricultural protection (Kompas, 2025a).

Moving forward the focus will remain on the implications of the BPKP audit and how it influences the proceedings against Lembong. The upcoming hearings are expected to have an impact on the outcome of the controversial high-profile corruption case in Indonesia.

Nickel Mining Context

According to environmental advocacy group Jatam, Lembong is also embroiled in a broader political conflict with former President Widodo’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. This rivalry related to policy disagreements about natural resource development and environmental concerns in Indonesia.

Jatam believes Lembong has been vocal about the detrimental impacts of certain policies on local communities, particularly in regions affected by mining and resource extraction in Indonesia’s nickel mining provinces. His criticisms of former Coordinating Minister Luhut’s approach have highlighted the struggles of residents who suffer from environmental degradation and lack of support from the government. The ongoing tension is one more dimension to the context for Lembong’s current legal persecution.

This post is based on:

In earlier reports…

Tom Lembong Forced To Draft Defense Submissions By Hand,  AGO: Other Defendants Do

Kompas.com, June 3, 2025, By Shela Octavia and Carina

Tom Lembong, the former Widodo Minister of Trade, expressed his concerns regarding the legal process he is currently facing, particularly about the writing of his defense plea (pleidoi).

After his iPad and MacBook were confiscated by authorities, he has  resorted to writing submissions by hand, using a stack of paper sent to him.

Harli Siregar, the Head of Legal Information Center at Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office, confirmed that many defendants, like Lembong, often are forced to write court submissions by hand, especially when electronic devices are prohibited in detention.

The confiscation of Lembong’s devices is said to be in line with regulations preventing electronic communication devices in detention facilities, ensuring fairness among all detainees.

Lembong acknowledged the challenges of writing submissions by hand, but said that he is accustomed to it and focused on the importance of conveying the truth and achieving justice. 

Lembong emphasized that while he preferred using electronic devices for ease, he would adapt to the circumstances. The Attorney General’s Office is also investigating how electronic devices were brought into the detention area. Based on https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2025/06/03/15264391/tom-lembong-curhat-tulis-tangan-puluhan-lembar-pleidoi-kejagung-terdakwa.

***

Prosecutors from Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office Arrest and Detain Lawyers-TV News Director for “Obstructing” Investigations, Antaranews.com

By Nadia Putri Rahmani for Antaranews.com, 22 April 2025

Kejagung ungkap peran advokat-Dirpem TV swasta yang rintangi penyidikan
Suspect in obstruction of justice case, law faculty professor and attorney Junaedi Saibih, is led away by Attorney General’s Office investigators to a waiting car at the Attorney General’s offices in Jakarta, Tuesday (4/22/2025). (ANTARA/Nadia Putri Rahmani)

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung) has outlined the alleged roles of lawyer Marcella Santoso, lawyer and university professor Junaedi Saibih, and director of news at a private Jakarta television station Tian Bahtiar in what it alleges is a case of obstruction of justice.

Director of Investigations at the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) of Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office, Abdul Qohar, alleged early Tuesday morning at the Attorney General’s offices in Jakarta that the conspiracy had started when suspects Santoso and Saibih had ordered the suspect Bahtiar to generate a negative narrative that placed the Attorney General’s Office in a difficult position.

The negative narrative was in relation to its handling of high profile cases of alleged corruption over tin commodity trading in the government controlled tin mining concessions (IUP) of SOE PT Timah Tbk between 2015 and 2022, alleged corruption in the administration of sugar importation licenses under then trade minister suspect Tom Lembong, and alleged corruption in the provision of crude palm oil export facilities.

Qohar claimed the negative narrative had been broadcast in a variety of forms of publication, from news reports to seminar events.

The suspect Saibih, he claimed, had created a positive narrative and opinion for his team, and created a methodology for calculating alleged government financial losses which appeared to demonstrate that the calculations presented by the Attorney General’s Office were incorrect and misleading.

The suspect Bahtiar had then transferred the narrative created by Saibih into news on a number of social media and online media, he claimed.

“(In the so-called negative narrative) the prosecutor’s office had also been portrayed in a negative way, as harming the rights of the suspects or defendants represented by (now) suspects Santoso and Saibih as the attorney’s for the various suspects or defendants,” he claimed.

Santoso and Saibih, Qohar continued, had also organized and funded seminars, podcasts, and talk shows in various online media by directing negative narratives in the news in order to influence the evidence in the different trials.

The different media activities were then covered by the suspect Bahtiar and broadcasted on Jakarta television station JAKTV and JAKTV’s official online accounts, including on TikTok and YouTube.

Qohar also claimed that Santoso and Saibih had funded demonstrations with the aim of subverting the investigation, prosecution, and proving of the three cases in court.

Bahtiar had also used the demonstrations to create negative portrayals in the news about the Prosecutor’s Office, he claimed.

“So, their goal was clearly the forming of negative opinion as if what the investigator was handling was not right, disturbing the concentration of investigators so that it was hoped, or their hope was, that the cases could be dropped or at least to disrupt the concentration of the investigation,” said Qohar emphasizing the point.

For his role, suspect Bahtir had received Rp 478,500,000 ($32,000) which had gone into his personal account, Qohar alleged.

“There had been no written contract between the JAKTV company and the parties named suspects so there was an indication suspect Bahtiar had abused his authority in his position as news director,” claimed Qohar.

The three suspects have also been indicted under Article 21 of Law 31/1999 Concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended by Law 20/2001 Concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) 1 of Indonesia’s Criminal Code.

Pending further processing, suspects Saibih and Santoso are being detained in custody at the Attorney General Office’s section of Salemba jail for the next 20 days.

Meanwhile, suspect Santoso was not detained because she is already being held as a suspect over an alleged bribery case involving the acquittal of a crude palm oil export facility corruption case at the Central Jakarta District Court.

Reporter: Nadia Putri Rahmani
Editor: Hisar Sitanggang
Copyright © ANTARA 2025

This post is based on https://m.antaranews.com/berita/4785173/kejagung-ungkap-peran-advokat-dirpem-tv-swasta-yang-rintangi-penyidikan. Featured image credit: Former Deputy Chair of Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Saut Situmorang is embraced by Anies Baswedan after hearing  Thomas Lembong sentenced to 4.5 years in prison over alleged corruption related to sugar importation at the Central Jakarta Corruption Court, Friday (July 18, 2025). (KOMPAS.com/Xena Olivia)

In related news:

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Trending

Discover more with Stories From Indonesia

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue Reading