August 13, 2025 | 08:31 am
Indonesia's Former Trade Minister Tom Lembong has reported the auditor of the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) who calculated state losses in the 2015-2016 sugar import corruption case. The report was filed with the Republic of Indonesia's Ombudsman on August 4, 2025.
Tom Lembong's Legal Counsel, Ari Yusuf Amir, said that there were four points that formed the basis of his report to the Ombudsman. One of them was the inconsistency of data and audit methods in the 2025 BPKP audit report.
"The BPKP auditor based the import duty calculation on Refined White Sugar (GKP), whereas the fact is that the imported sugar was Raw Crystal Sugar (GKM)," said Ari when met at the Ombudsman RI on Tuesday, August 12, 2025.
According to Ari, this violates Article 7 paragraph (2) of Law No. 14 of 2008 concerning Public Information Disclosure, which stipulates that public bodies must provide accurate, true, and non-misleading information, as well as Article 1 number 18 juncto Article 5 paragraph (1) of the Regulation of the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency of the Republic of Indonesia Number 1 of 2019 concerning the Standards of Internal Audit Operations of the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency.
"The auditor's obligation to apply independence and objectivity in carrying out its activities," said Ari.
Tom's legal team also noticed substantial systematic errors in the 2025 BPKP audit documents and data, such as mislabeling of HS Codes. "This was revealed through document examination, where in the column that should have stated the basic value for calculating import duties, the HS Code was listed instead. The auditor admitted this error during the trial," said Ari.
Another alleged violation is the principle of professionalism and objectivity. Ari said that during the trial of the sugar import corruption case at the Central Jakarta District Court, the BPKP auditor was unable to explain the basis for the calculation, only responding based on an audit investigation letter from the Public Prosecutor.
"This violates Article 5 paragraph (1) of the 2019 BPKP Regulation concerning independence, objectivity, and avoiding conflicts of interest," said Ari.
Tom's legal team raised suspicions of inconsistency and lack of credibility in the audit report, as the state financial losses always changed. He mentioned that in a press conference, the Attorney General stated the state losses in this case were Rp 400 billion, in the indictment became Rp 578.1 billion, in the demand letter Rp 515.4 billion, and in the verdict Rp 194.71 billion.
In this sugar import corruption case, Thomas Trikasih Lembong was found guilty by the Jakarta Corruption Court. In its ruling, the panel of judges stated that state losses in this case could not be calculated based on potential. The panel of judges declared that state losses must be actual losses.
In the verdict, the panel of judges also stated that Tom did not have any wrongful intent or mens rea in issuing sugar import permits to nine companies. The judges also declared that Tom did not gain any profit from his policy. Although convicted, Tom Lembong is now a free man. He received clemency from President Prabowo Subianto on July 31, 2025.
In addition to the BPKP auditor, Tom Lembong's legal team also reported the panel of judges who found their client guilty to the Supreme Court.
Amelia Rahima Sari contributed to the making of this article.
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