Regarding The Cooking Oil Mafia Which Has Not Been Disclosed, Trade Minister Lutfi: All The Processes Are In The Police

Minister of Trade, M. Lutfi. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Trade)

JAKARTA - Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi again spoke about the cooking oil mafia. He said that all procedures for solving the problem were now in the realm of law enforcement.

"So the process is all in the hands of the police. Let the legal procedures finish properly," he said, in Jakarta, Thursday, April 14.

Previously, the Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi had said that the cause of the cooking oil that occurred was because there was a mafia. Lutfi made this statement in a meeting with Commission VI of the DPR in mid-March.

At that time, Lutfi also said that the government and the police had uncovered the practice of the cooking oil mafia. He conveyed that the Police Criminal Investigation Agency would announce the mafia.

"I have given all the data. This is still a presumption of innocence, but we have found it and this is in the thousands of tons (hoarding). We have reported it to the Police through the Criminal Investigation Unit, we have started to arrest and investigate," he explained.

According to Lutfi, there are already suspects who will be named. The determination of the suspect candidates will be announced on Monday, March 21 by the police.

"I leave it to the police so they can decide the legal process. On Monday there will be potential suspects," he said.

Furthermore, Lutfi explained that the hoarding mechanism was carried out by escaping subsidies to upper-middle industries. Then, subsidized bulk cooking oil is repackaged into premium cooking oil, and subsidized bulk cooking oil is transported abroad.

"There are three targets that will be set on Monday. Three of them will have potential suspects on Monday. The police will announce them on Monday," said the Trade Minister.

However, as of the date mentioned, the cooking oil mafia referred to by Lutfi has not been revealed to the public. When asked about this, the Ministry of Trade said the data had been provided but the police considered that there was no evidence.

A few days ago, the Director General of Domestic Trade at the Ministry of Trade, Oke Nurwan, said that in fact his party had provided a lot of evidence of fraud committed by unscrupulous persons. However, the evidence that has been given is still not strong according to the Police.

"Actually, there is a problem with oil in the oil distribution chain. There are too many players in the distribution chain, even though we already have evidence that we feel is sufficient. After it was submitted, it turns out that there is not enough evidence from law enforcement," he said, Wednesday, April 13. .