Indonesia arrests nutrition chief over free meal fraud

The recently dismissed head of Indonesia's National Nutrition Agency, Dadan Hindayana, was arrested on Wednesday on corruption charges related to the government's multibillion-dollar free meals program. Two other former senior officials from the agency were also taken into custody.

The arrests followed a pre-dawn raid by investigators from the Attorney General's Office on the agency's headquarters in Jakarta, which was placed under lockdown. The operation came less than 24 hours after President Prabowo Subianto dismissed Hindayana and his two deputies on Tuesday. A state official said the dismissals were linked to governance and food quality concerns.

Prosecutors allege the three officials were involved in corrupt practices in the management of the Free Nutritious Meal program for the 2025-2026 period. Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, a director at the Attorney General's Office, stated that Hindayana is accused of influencing the selection of foundations to operate program kitchens despite them failing to meet eligibility standards. Nahdi alleged these foundations, which received daily incentives, were linked to the suspects. The officials are also suspected of involvement in the...