Indonesia’s free meals corruption probe extends to police, military officers
President Prabowo’s US$15 billion programme has been criticised for budget strains and cases of food poisoning
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) on Thursday identified Lalu Muhammad Iwan Mahardan, a police brigadier general who serves as deputy secretary for promotion and cooperation at the National Nutrition Agency, as the seventh suspect in a governance inquiry into the meals programme.
Separately, prosecutors said they found alleged involvement of an active-duty military officer in a procurement of electric motorcycles for the programme that they said was carried out unlawfully. They referred the case to the military crimes unit for a joint civilian-military investigation.
The developments add to scrutiny of Prabowo’s US$15 billion free meals programme, whose spending allocation has added to budget strains and whose rushed roll-out has led to cases of food poisoning.
The programme, which is under new leadership and has been under review since corruption allegations first emerged last month, aims to provide daily free meals to more than 80 million students and mothers across the archipelago nation.
Iwan served as the nutrition agency’s head of legal affairs and public relations from December 2024 to March 2025, according to a statement from the AGO.