JAKARTA - The team of investigators from the Attorney General's Office for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) of the Attorney General's Office (Kejagung) searched a number of company offices. This is related to alleged corruption in the export of crude palm oil (CPO) or crude palm oil and its derivatives, palm oil mill effluent (POME), 2022-2024 period.
"Carrying out searches and currently still ongoing in the Sumatra region, at several offices belonging to PT-PT," said the Head of the Attorney General's Office of the Attorney General Anang Supriatna in Jakarta, Thursday, February 12.
The search was carried out at a number of companies in Pekanbaru and Medan which were suspected of having links to the suspects.
In addition to the search, investigators also traced assets suspected of being related to the case. This step is taken to maximize the recovery of state losses. "We focus not only on arresting people, but also asset tracing for the recovery of state losses," said Anang.
Director of Investigation of the Attorney General's Office, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, explained that the government previously implemented a policy of restricting and controlling CPO exports in 2020-2024.
This policy is carried out in order to maintain the availability and stability of domestic cooking oil prices through the domestic market obligation (DMO) scheme, export approval, to export duties and palm oil levies.
During the investigation, there was an alleged deviation in the form of engineering the classification of export commodities. CPO with a high acid content is deliberately claimed as POME using a different HS Code, which is actually intended for CPO solid residues or waste.
"The purpose of this classification engineering is to avoid controlling CPO exports so that commodities that are essentially CPO can be exported as if they were not CPO," explained Syarief.
As a result of the alleged practice, the state's financial losses are estimated at IDR 10 trillion to IDR 14 trillion based on the interim calculation of the auditor. This figure does not include the potential loss of the state's economy, which is still being calculated.
There are 11 suspects in this case, consisting of three state organizers and eight private parties. From the state officials, the suspects come from the Ministry of Industry and the Directorate General of Customs and Excise.
Meanwhile, from the private sector, a number of company directors were named as suspects for allegedly being involved in the engineering of the CPO exports. The Attorney General's Office emphasized that the legal process would continue, including the development of investigations and the final calculation of state losses.
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