Only Has 2 Directors, 12 Employees And 10 Workers, PT AMJ: It's Impossible For Us To Be A Cooking Oil Mafia To Cause Scarcity

President Director of PT AMJ Djondy Putra. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - PT Amin Market Jaya (AMJ) has denied accusations by several parties that they are the cooking oil mafia. This was confirmed by the President Director of PT AMJ Djondy Putra.

"We, PT AMJ, are not the cooking oil mafia as reported. We feel disadvantaged," Djondy said at a press conference in Jakarta, Thursday April.

Meanwhile, PT AMJ's attorney Fredrik J. Pinakunary added, PT AMJ as a company that only has 2 Directors, 12 employees and 10 workers, cannot possibly be the mastermind behind the shortage of cooking oil in the market.

"Is it right that PT AMJ is called the cooking oil mafia, which causes the scarcity of cooking oil?," said Fredrik.

Meanwhile, Fredrik in his presentation mentioned a number of objections related to allegations of the cooking oil mafia which allegedly caused the shortage of the commodity.

First, said Fredrik, the allegation of illegally exporting 23 containers of cooking oil in July 2021-January 2022 was not carried out by PT AMJ. He emphasized that his client had never exported 23 containers of cooking oil to Hong Kong.

"Since September 7, 2021, PT AMJ has exported various basic necessities to Hong Kong and cooking oil is only one of them. It is a fatal mistake to state that PT AMJ exported 23 containers of cooking oil," he said.

Secondly, he continued, the accusation of exporting cooking oil by PT AMJ which resulted in state losses of around Rp. 400 million per container is also not true.

"Not once did PT AMJ get a profit of around Rp. 400 million," he added.

Fredrik said that the range of profits obtained by PT AMJ through the export of cooking oil was Rp. 3.8 million to Rp. 6.8 million. He explained that PT AMJ's profit from each container was less than Rp. 400 million, not even 10 percent of Rp. 400 million.

"The profit earned by PT AMJ on each container is in the range of a reasonable and legal amount," he said.

Furthermore, regarding the accusation of buying cooking oil at subsidized prices and buying cooking oil from unofficial suppliers, he said PT AMJ did not do that.

PT AMJ buys cooking oil from official suppliers and has never bought cooking oil at subsidized prices, he said.

"This is a fabricated accusation and does not match the facts. PT AMJ has never bought cooking oil at subsidized prices from any supplier," he said.

He mentioned a number of official suppliers who are PT AMJ's business partners, including PD Majuan, PT Indomarco Adi Prima, and PT Anugrah Pangan Prima Lestari.

"These suppliers are suppliers that are already in the form of a legal entity and have a business license to carry out their business activities," he said.

Since the PT AMJ container was detained at the Tanjung Priok Port in January 2022, he continued, the company no longer exports cooking oil until now.

While the allegation that PT AMJ does not have a quota to export cooking oil, he explained that the Minister of Trade Regulation (Permendag) regarding the export quota of cooking oil was issued when PT AMJ no longer exports cooking oil, to be precise in January 2022.

Before January 2022, he said, there was no quota for exporters who sent cooking oil abroad. Furthermore, there was a regulation on special permits for the export of cooking oil in January 2022 and February 2022, but that regulation was revoked by a new regulation in March 2022.

"So, it is clear that PT AMJ has not violated any provisions," concluded Fredrik.