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View all search resultsGraft probe draws scrutiny over police, military roles in free meals program
The widening corruption probe into President Prabowo Subianto’s free nutritious meal program has implicated a police brigadier general and a military officer, intensifying scrutiny over active-duty personnel in government welfare programs.
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Students collect metal food trays used to distribute free nutritious meal program at the SDN Banjarsari 5 state elementary school in Serang, Banten on Feb. 18, 2025. (Antara/Angga Budhiyanto)
T
he widening corruption probe into President Prabowo Subianto’s free nutritious meal program has implicated a police brigadier general and a military officer, intensifying scrutiny over active-duty personnel in the government welfare programs.
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) last Thursday identified the seventh suspect in the case as Brig. Gen Lalu Muhammad Iwan Mahardan, who serves as deputy secretary for promotion and cooperation at the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), the body in charge of overseeing the free meals rollout.
Lalu is accused of being involved in a scheme that required prospective free meal kitchens to buy food trays from a company he co-founded with two associates at predetermined prices, with alleged kickbacks tied to procurement approvals. He is being detained at the Salemba detention center in Jakarta.
Lalu’s case is part of an ongoing AGO investigation into corruption linked to the multi-trillion-rupiah program, which has already implicated former BGN head Dadan Hindayana, his two deputies and three private-sector figures as suspects.
The AGO said an active-duty Army colonel who serves as secretary to the deputy for procurement and distribution at the BGN, identified only by his initials BU, is also under investigation in another alleged procurement irregularities in the program, including the controversial purchase of electric motorcycles.
Read also: More suspects arrested as AGO widens probe into free meals corruption
Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, director of investigation at the Office of the Assistant Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus), said investigators found indications of irregularities in the procurement, in which BU was responsible for approving the contract.
