Trade Ministry to Investigate Three Rice Importers

Jakarta (Antara) - The Trade Ministry will conduct investigations on three rice importers suspected of having importing medium-class rice from Vietnam. "We will only investigate and focus on the three importers," Director General of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Trade Bachrul Chairi stated here on Friday. He noted that the investigation on the case will take a long time, but the three importers had been identified out of the 165 importers who had been granted permits to import rice in 2013. The three importers will be investigated. Two of the three importers were suspected to have abused their trade permits. The other one had allegedly recommended the other company's name to import the rice. "Two importers are suspected to have been involved in wrongdoings, while the third one had allowed his permit to be used by other people. The report about the importers may be wrong, but we will carry out the necessary investigations. The quality of the rice will be examined in laboratories," the director general remarked. He stressed that the trade permits of the importers will be cancelled if proven guilty and their case will be submitted in the court. The Directorate General of Customs and Excise denied a report claiming that 16.9 tons of rice was illegally imported from Vietnam. "As per records, the import of rice from Vietnam has been carried out 83 times," remarked Susiwijono Moegiarso, director of the Customs and Excise Office, here on Sunday. (*)