Political Criminal Law Perspective of Dionysios Spinelis: Analysis the Case of Alleged Corruption in Sugar Imports by Tom Lembong

The alleged corruption in sugar imports involving Tom Lembong has attracted public attention because it is considered to be politically motivated. Mahfud M.D. believes that this case has strong political dimensions, because the alleged corruption, which has been going on for a long time, has only recently been questioned. Suspicions have intensified as the Attorney General's Office has rejected requests to investigate five other trade ministers who are also implicated, while the investigation covers the long period from 2015 to 2023. In Dionysios Spinellis' perspective, this reflects the practice of penal politicization, which is when criminal law is used as a political tool to suppress opponents. Spinellis divides political crimes into two forms: crimes by those in power (state officials) and crimes against power (by citizens). Materially, Tom's actions can be seen as abuse of power, but from a procedural law perspective, there is debate because he feels that the legal process is fraught with political interests, especially after he joined the presidential candidate's campaign team. This situation shows how the line between law enforcement and political interests is often blurred, as Spinellis describes through the concept of the politicization of criminal proceedings.