Indonesia Arrests Nutrition Officials in $56 Million Fraud Probe While Free Meals Programme Reaches 25 Million People

Indonesian authorities arrested the head of the National Nutrition Agency and two deputies in early June for alleged procurement fraud of $56 million in President Prabowo Subianto’s Free Nutritious Meals programme, Al Jazeera reported. Investigations have since expanded to seven people, including an active-duty police officer and a military officer.

The programme, launched in 2025, has rolled out nearly 28,000 kitchens over 18 months, each supplying up to 3,000 meals a day.

The government spent $2.8 billion on the initiative in 2025 before cutting the 2026 budget from $18.4 billion to $14.7 billion in May on Prabowo’s directive. At least 18,000 kitchens are located on Java, while roughly 270 each were established in eastern Papua and Bali.

Pregnant women and toddlers made up 5 percent of the 25.78 million recipients reached between January and September 2025, according to government data.

Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan stated in June that nearly 7,000 surplus kitchens cost the state a trillion rupiah, or $54 million, per month in incentive fees. He alleged that operating permits may have been bought and sold. Kitchen operators receive daily incentive fees of 6 million rupiah, or $324.

Food-poisoning cases reached 33,000 as of April 2026, according to the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network. Indonesia nearly halved stunting prevalence over the past decade to around 20 percent of children nationwide, per the World Bank. Ronny Sasmita stated the alleged corruption is one of Indonesia’s most significant recent cases in scale and systemic impact.